So relieved.
This is turning out to be a GREAT week. And I really do mean great. Like, best week I have had in a while now.
You know why? Because I am DONE with student teaching!!!! That's right. I went in yesterday to student teach, and I was kind of scared because I had taken Monday off, and I didn't have anything awesome planned for the day (I was just going to have them keep going with reading The Outsiders and answering reading comprehension questions - somewhat boring.) I didn't know how things would go since Friday had been so awful, and I was pretty much full of dread going in there, hoping that my master teacher might have come up with a lesson and she might be wanting to teach at least one of the classes that day.
It turned out, she really did want to teach the classes again, all of them. She had planned out lessons not only for that day but for basically the rest of the school year, and much of it looked way cooler than stuff I would have thought of. She said that since she's going to a different school next year and won't get to work with this group of 7th graders again next year (she teaches 7th and 8th grade English at the school where we've been teaching), she wants to have some more time to teach this group before she leaves. She also understands what I've been going through and doesn't want to keep me in such a stressful situation when I need to focus on finishing up my course work for my credential.
We had a discussion, too, about the stupid things that basically made student teaching shitty for me. On Monday night, I had the single most useful class in this program that I've ever had. My methods teacher brought in her husband, who has also been a teacher for a long time, and he guest-taught a classroom management course, condensed into one class meeting. It was amazing. I was asking myself, "Why did this man not teach an entire course of this here, or an entire year's worth of this material here?" "Why is this just happening now, when it's too late?" Ugh, such frustrating questions when I know the answers won't come. Cal State East Bay has done well to train me in some areas, but they definitely don't emphasize the right things to teach new teachers as they're beginning student teaching. Without classroom management skills, everything goes to shit. And that's what happened for me. I wasn't trained in what to do specifically, so I had to pretty much try to copy whatever my master teachers did. This resulted in the kids basically walking all over me because they don't think of me as a "real teacher," and also because my master teachers didn't always show great classroom management skills, themselves. My current master teacher somehow has done a pretty good job with them herself, but it doesn't work for me. And she doesn't do things the way I would want to in my own classroom.
Anyway, *huge sigh of relief*, that means that I have a lot of time freed up now to do other things. Today I worked for SFUSD as a substitute paraprofessional for the first time in a long time, and it was really nice. I worked with autistic preschoolers, and while it does get kind of chaotic, I really do prefer working with younger kids, and autistic kids kind of make sense to me in a weird way. The things they do that are "bad" are not seen as bad to them, and they don't intentionally disobey, at least not most of the time. It did get a little crazy when we were out on the playground and it was raining lightly, and one little boy decided it was a good time to take off his shoes, pants and underwear. He sat on a bench, naked from the waist down, for quite a while before I was finally sent over to watch him while the other kids went in from recess, because no one could get him to put on his clothes. I got him to put on his clothes, thankfully.
Other than the relief of not having to student teach anymore, I also am relieved that I passed my final TPA task!!!!! I got a 3 on it. The scoring goes from 1 to 4, and 3 and 4 are passing scores, 1 and 2 are not. I'd gotten two 3's and one 4 on my previous three tasks, so I was hopeful that I'd pass this one, but this was the big scary one where I had to take a video of myself teaching and upload it for my assessors to see. If I hadn't passed this TPA task, I would have to redo it somehow, and I don't even know how that'd work cos I'd basically have to do student teaching again next year. This means I will get my teaching credential, no problem, because I have passed all the TPA tasks, gotten good grades in my classes, and passing scores on all the TPEs (Teacher Performance Expectations) that my field work supervisor graded me on at her observations. I simply have to finish a research paper of 10-15 pages (6 pages are already written), a group project, and a short paper on a school board meeting (which I have yet to attend). After that, I will be DONE with my credential program and I can apply for my teaching credential through the state of California. YAY!
The rest of this week:
- Seeing Rudy tonight.
- Working tomorrow, then dancing.
- Working Friday, then teaching swing dancing to high school kids.
- Hanging out with Rudy on Saturday (hopefully), and then dancing.
- Drinks with friends on Sunday evening before dancing, then dancing at a Prom-esque dance. Yay dressing up!
I feel like a kid again, almost, having a bit of a summer break. I do still have some stuff to grade that the 7th graders turned in to me, but I can get that done by next week and turn that back over to my master teacher to have her give back to them.
I think once I'm completely done with this program, I will celebrate by treating myself (or having Rudy treat me) to some time at a spa. It has been a while and something like that sounds pretty awesome and needed at this time in my life.
You know why? Because I am DONE with student teaching!!!! That's right. I went in yesterday to student teach, and I was kind of scared because I had taken Monday off, and I didn't have anything awesome planned for the day (I was just going to have them keep going with reading The Outsiders and answering reading comprehension questions - somewhat boring.) I didn't know how things would go since Friday had been so awful, and I was pretty much full of dread going in there, hoping that my master teacher might have come up with a lesson and she might be wanting to teach at least one of the classes that day.
It turned out, she really did want to teach the classes again, all of them. She had planned out lessons not only for that day but for basically the rest of the school year, and much of it looked way cooler than stuff I would have thought of. She said that since she's going to a different school next year and won't get to work with this group of 7th graders again next year (she teaches 7th and 8th grade English at the school where we've been teaching), she wants to have some more time to teach this group before she leaves. She also understands what I've been going through and doesn't want to keep me in such a stressful situation when I need to focus on finishing up my course work for my credential.
We had a discussion, too, about the stupid things that basically made student teaching shitty for me. On Monday night, I had the single most useful class in this program that I've ever had. My methods teacher brought in her husband, who has also been a teacher for a long time, and he guest-taught a classroom management course, condensed into one class meeting. It was amazing. I was asking myself, "Why did this man not teach an entire course of this here, or an entire year's worth of this material here?" "Why is this just happening now, when it's too late?" Ugh, such frustrating questions when I know the answers won't come. Cal State East Bay has done well to train me in some areas, but they definitely don't emphasize the right things to teach new teachers as they're beginning student teaching. Without classroom management skills, everything goes to shit. And that's what happened for me. I wasn't trained in what to do specifically, so I had to pretty much try to copy whatever my master teachers did. This resulted in the kids basically walking all over me because they don't think of me as a "real teacher," and also because my master teachers didn't always show great classroom management skills, themselves. My current master teacher somehow has done a pretty good job with them herself, but it doesn't work for me. And she doesn't do things the way I would want to in my own classroom.
Anyway, *huge sigh of relief*, that means that I have a lot of time freed up now to do other things. Today I worked for SFUSD as a substitute paraprofessional for the first time in a long time, and it was really nice. I worked with autistic preschoolers, and while it does get kind of chaotic, I really do prefer working with younger kids, and autistic kids kind of make sense to me in a weird way. The things they do that are "bad" are not seen as bad to them, and they don't intentionally disobey, at least not most of the time. It did get a little crazy when we were out on the playground and it was raining lightly, and one little boy decided it was a good time to take off his shoes, pants and underwear. He sat on a bench, naked from the waist down, for quite a while before I was finally sent over to watch him while the other kids went in from recess, because no one could get him to put on his clothes. I got him to put on his clothes, thankfully.
Other than the relief of not having to student teach anymore, I also am relieved that I passed my final TPA task!!!!! I got a 3 on it. The scoring goes from 1 to 4, and 3 and 4 are passing scores, 1 and 2 are not. I'd gotten two 3's and one 4 on my previous three tasks, so I was hopeful that I'd pass this one, but this was the big scary one where I had to take a video of myself teaching and upload it for my assessors to see. If I hadn't passed this TPA task, I would have to redo it somehow, and I don't even know how that'd work cos I'd basically have to do student teaching again next year. This means I will get my teaching credential, no problem, because I have passed all the TPA tasks, gotten good grades in my classes, and passing scores on all the TPEs (Teacher Performance Expectations) that my field work supervisor graded me on at her observations. I simply have to finish a research paper of 10-15 pages (6 pages are already written), a group project, and a short paper on a school board meeting (which I have yet to attend). After that, I will be DONE with my credential program and I can apply for my teaching credential through the state of California. YAY!
The rest of this week:
- Seeing Rudy tonight.
- Working tomorrow, then dancing.
- Working Friday, then teaching swing dancing to high school kids.
- Hanging out with Rudy on Saturday (hopefully), and then dancing.
- Drinks with friends on Sunday evening before dancing, then dancing at a Prom-esque dance. Yay dressing up!
I feel like a kid again, almost, having a bit of a summer break. I do still have some stuff to grade that the 7th graders turned in to me, but I can get that done by next week and turn that back over to my master teacher to have her give back to them.
I think once I'm completely done with this program, I will celebrate by treating myself (or having Rudy treat me) to some time at a spa. It has been a while and something like that sounds pretty awesome and needed at this time in my life.