10 Weeks as a Teacher
Well, as a student-teacher, anyhow. I've hardly posted anything in ages, and I feel bad about that. I seem to never have any time. I loved working at F5 this spring and summer, but since it was supposed to be a short-term contract, I just kept putting things off until the job was over. And then it kept rolling along until the very last day of the summer, when I had to quit so I could get on with the student teaching business.
I've spent the last 10 weeks as a student teacher in a 3rd grade class. 28 students. For the last 3ish weeks I've been the teacher pretty for 90% of the day. This is exhausting work, and even though I spent heckalotta money on really good shoes and worked up to standing all day, I still have very-sore-feet days. Also? I lost more weight in my first 6 weeks of teaching between September and October then I did in 6 straight weeks of daily 20-to-30 minute works outs in July and August. Yup, that's right, I lost more weight by teaching than I did by intentionally exercising. If only I could afford to go out and buy new pants!
Also? I'm doing pretty good at this beginning teaching thing. I don't hold a candle next to my mentor teacher, of course, but she does have like 10 years on me. But I have high hopes to actually impressing the principal when she comes to observe me the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And I'm extra excited that she's coming to observe math, which is possibly my favorite subject. For math, students switch classes, and I am teaching 6th grade math to 20 kids regularly in the 3rd-5th grades. My biggest challenge is managing behavior, but that's a bit less of a burden during math, since the older kids are a bit more mature.
Also? My least favorite thing to do during the day? Walk in the hall. Dear god, it kills me every day how bad our kids are at walking in a straight, silent, trouble-free line. My mentor teacher has got them walking in 2 lines, and somehow they manage to spread from wall to wall in the hall, which is quite a wide hall, and they are like a herd of elephants on the stairs. So there you have it, the secret worst part of teaching: trying to make kids walk in a straight line.
I've spent the last 10 weeks as a student teacher in a 3rd grade class. 28 students. For the last 3ish weeks I've been the teacher pretty for 90% of the day. This is exhausting work, and even though I spent heckalotta money on really good shoes and worked up to standing all day, I still have very-sore-feet days. Also? I lost more weight in my first 6 weeks of teaching between September and October then I did in 6 straight weeks of daily 20-to-30 minute works outs in July and August. Yup, that's right, I lost more weight by teaching than I did by intentionally exercising. If only I could afford to go out and buy new pants!
Also? I'm doing pretty good at this beginning teaching thing. I don't hold a candle next to my mentor teacher, of course, but she does have like 10 years on me. But I have high hopes to actually impressing the principal when she comes to observe me the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And I'm extra excited that she's coming to observe math, which is possibly my favorite subject. For math, students switch classes, and I am teaching 6th grade math to 20 kids regularly in the 3rd-5th grades. My biggest challenge is managing behavior, but that's a bit less of a burden during math, since the older kids are a bit more mature.
Also? My least favorite thing to do during the day? Walk in the hall. Dear god, it kills me every day how bad our kids are at walking in a straight, silent, trouble-free line. My mentor teacher has got them walking in 2 lines, and somehow they manage to spread from wall to wall in the hall, which is quite a wide hall, and they are like a herd of elephants on the stairs. So there you have it, the secret worst part of teaching: trying to make kids walk in a straight line.