An interesting week filled with surprises, some pleasant, some not so very. The year 2007 has kicked off grandly, and I'm feeling pretty good about it.
This is not to say that as I look ahead of me, I see clear skies and smooth seas... uh-uh... ain't gonna happen. But I do feel like I'm up for whatever may come my way.
Monday: Jan 1 was a holiday for teachers and students, so of course, I only used part of that day to get ready for the school week. I felt nearly 100% recovered from the illness over the holidays.
Tuesday: School doors opened, beckoning all those little open minds, our future caregivers, politicians, doctors, policemen, preachers, business entrepeneurs, writers, artists, actors, singers, homemakers, soldiers, etc., etc., not to mention future mommies and daddies... all of them, including the teachers, walked down school halls and through classroom doors with a rekindled passion for learning.
That's the way I saw it... my view of School. It's how I felt when I found myself once more moving through the building, into which only four months ago I had taken my place as a teacher.
I recalled my first apprehensions back in August, my concerns for not knowing anyone, that none of the students knew me, that I didn't know where anything was, didn't know the "ropes" in this particular building.
All anxieties have been laid to rest. These people have welcomed me with widely opened arms, complete trust, seeking my experience and my opinion, needing my expertise. And I, oh yes, especially I, ever needing theirs. There is no doubt that I am part of the team here, and I love that. I didn't acquire those feelings my first year, eight years ago, when I began my teaching career. I was apprehensive for two years, possibly three... probably my own doing, my own perceptions. Yet, already, at this school, I feel like I fit in. It's a wonderful feeling.
Also,Tuesday after school: I attended an orientation meeting at a well-known university, my alma-mater, Elon University. The meeting was to acquaint me with my new role as a Cooperating Teacher for a student teacher. Yes, the young lady who completed a student practicuum in my class back in the fall semester is coming back for the remainder of the school year. She is doing her student teaching with me!!!! Can I celebrate? I knew she had asked to do this with me, and I accepted with pleasure. Although I have never been selected to be a cooperating teacher before, I felt like it was time for me to fill that role.
Wednesday: Ms. J began her first day in my classroom as a full-time student teacher. This is similar to what doctors do when they do their internship. She has to gradually take on the role of teacher, under my guidance, with my assistance, with my students, in every class I teach. Eventually, over a period of three weeks, she will assume all the tasks I normally do. My schedule is her schedule. She goes with me to all meetings, all school functions, and will plan with other teachers when they plan. I will always be there with her, for her. I want her to feel like part of the team.
And I don't want to scare her away. We need more smart, enthusiastic, healthy young people like her to enter the field of education. We need her dedication... I want to inspire the dedication and the commitment, for that is what it will take to keep these younger people in the classrooms. They need to find their own passion, and if that passion is found in the classroom, by golly, we have a lifetime teacher who will have the time of her life.
She is eager, filled with questions. I sense her anxieties, and then I remember when it was me as a student-teacher, taking on my first full-time role as a teacher in another teacher's classroom. Oh, even at 45 I was like a younger student. I looked older, but I didn't feel much more confident to take on students with learning difficulties. Confidence came with experience, over time.
After school, we attended a second grade planning session with all the second grade teachers, and then we attended a first grade planning session. My young student teacher mostly listened and observed, and I knew she was thinking there was lots to do, lots to learn, and lots to think about... I hoped she wasn't getting overwhelmed. After the meetings, she had questions, and we talked about what she had seen and heard. Her interest was high.
Thursday: She walked in early as she said she would. She accompanied me on a first-time task for her: bus/car duty. I told her that this is one of my favorite tasks, which I'm only assigned one day a week. I wanted to impart upon her the big picture: when you greet a student as they step down off the school bus, or out of their warm car, you are the first teacher they encounter. You help set the tone of the day for them. I say goodmorning or hi or hey there or have a great day today to every single child as they pass by me.
Parents are dropping off their precious cargo on their way to work... I remember being that parent twenty years ago. Parents are trusting the teachers in the school, the principal, the specialty teachers, the custodian even, trusting them all to be kind to their child, to love their child, and to teach their child something each and every day. When the parents see me, I want them to know that their kids are in the best school in the county, and that we will provide the best elementary school education for their child, and that I am only one of those teachers who is glad to be there, one of many more.
Yes, that is what I was hoping to impress upon my student teacher yesterday as we stood outside at 7:25 a.m. greeting students at the front of the building. I saw her smiling, she picked it up fast... yes, I think she got it!
At the end of the day, she asked if she could have a planner, so we walked to the office and asked the secretary if there were any extra teacher planners. Sure enough, there they were, and one was given to my student teacher. She grinned.
Friday: Today, she taught her very first lesson in a second grade reading class, using three poems I had selected earlier. I couldn't observe her, for I was teaching my fifth graders at the same time in the same room. I had to wait until lunch time to talk to her about it, how it went, how she felt about it. She said it had gone well, she reflected upon her experience, upon how the students responded, and she said it was fun... yes!!! Poetry should be fun.
I was able to arrange for her to have her own key to my classroom, and I even asked if she could have a key to the main building. By the end of the day, I found a little envelope in my mailbox with a key to my classroom, and she smiled when I gave it to her. The principal overheard us talking about the key to the building, and searched for a lanyard for her to wear around her neck... I told Ms. J that she is officially a teacher here when she puts that key around her neck (that's how most of us wear our keys and ID badges).
After the kids were on the buses or in their cars, we were able to meet with a fifth grade teacher and discuss math plans, then we finally sat down to discuss what we wanted to do next week. She is going to take over my first grade reading and writing class next week. We made some plans, looked at materials we would use, she took some books home with her.
I took her out to dinner at the end of the day, sort of a celebration to mark our first three days as a student/teacher team.
I asked her how she thought her first three days went, and she said she thought it was a good week. She realized it was a short week, but still, she was pleased so far. I told her about the feeling of being overwhelmed, that "at some point it will happen, all teachers experience it that first time... so just don't fight it. Let me know when it happens... I will help you through it."
But, I think I will recognize when it happens... I think I will know when she has reached the end of her "rope."
When that happens, I will be there telling her to let go of it.
Like that story about The Rope that I found at Discovering Me by Scotthlori.
Thank you forthis tag, but I have lost the information about who sent it to me. If you are the one, please leave a comment. Was it you, Penny?
Oh! and thank you, God, for all of this and more.
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