I would
love to come here and write 500 to 800 words about how I am so incredibly certain
that this semester will be amazing, everything will go according to plan and that I have no fear whatsoever in teaching for extended
periods of time or developing full unit plans for my students. My
goals in this rose colored scenario would be decorated with rainbows, unicorns and gliltter – in other words not exactly steeped in reality.
Ok,
first of all, that is all far to frooffy for me.
I am definitely not the rainbow glittery type. The reality is this: I survived week 1. I daresay I even thrived. I am most definitely exhausted. I am also really exhilarated. I would love to say that all that middle school energy is rubbing off on me, but this week they were all super tired with no energy for me to siphon (it was all me then, huh? or all that caffeine...). These kids though even at their most groggy never fail to make me smile (call me strange, but I love this age group a lot).
Amazingly I am not stressed. I could be, but I am choosing to focus on my goals instead of the amount of color on my calendar (it is quite a rainbow - but still no unicorns). Goals are the key to my sanity this year. So let’s talk about them shall we?
1) Develop strong engaging meaningful unit plans – this is
something entirely new to me in so many ways.
My previous placements didn’t allow for me to see unit/lesson
progression and that makes this somewhat daunting. Ok, that was a HUGE understatement because this is pretty much the BIG DAUNTING THING this semester, but I
know what Big Idea I’m working with (Fear – how cool is that for a big idea?), I need to pick
the short story/piece my unit will cover (there are not one but two Edgar Allan
Poe stories I could use and that makes me giddy) and this all means I can start getting the wheels
turning and I have plenty of time.
Right? Right!
2) Become a valued member of the classroom – from my mentor’s
perspective, the student’s perspective, my supervisor’s perspective and the
perspective of the school administrators.
I always keep in mind that this is essentially a yearlong interview (in addition to a tremendous hands on learning experience obviously) and I strive to be friendly, professional and open to feedback every single day. I see it as baby steps to getting a job next
year and learning how to forge strong relationships with colleagues in the
future.
3) Get up when I fall down.
I don’t know when it will happen, but I’ll try to teach something and it
will fail. I will take it as an epic irreparable failure (because I’m rational
like that when I am freaking out) and I’ll have a tiny voice inside questioning
the sanity in choosing this path at this point in my life (I have middle school
kiddos of my own afterall). But, after
wallowing for a bit (we all need a good wallow now and again) I will get up,
dust myself off and use the multitude of resources around me to get feedback on
what I could have done differently. I will solider on! I will think of all the time I’ve spent to
get here, the joy I get being at my placement and my Co-op working with these
kids and remember that I chose to be here.
I worked hard to be here and I will see it through. This role – to be a
teacher - will be one of the biggest best things in my life. (Note to self: read this later this semester
if things seem a wreck, would you? Sometimes you need to hear the words again and
really let them sink in to get out of wallow-mode.)
4) Baby steps. Plan ahead
– yes. But do not focus on what is
further down the line – focus on what needs to be done now to make those far
off goals that much easier to reach. Tackle
the big assignments in small chunks – start early, brainstorm, bounce ideas
around with my mentor, colleagues and family and lay a strong groundwork. For me, it is all about seeing the beauty in
the baby step.
5) Perhaps biggest and most important – enjoy this
opportunity. Pre-service student
teaching is like walking a tightrope with a huge safety net being held up by an
army of experts. I want to soak it all in –
the kids (they make my day), the chance to be in a class every day it meets and see lesson and student progression in action, a mentor who is a huge repository of experience,
ideas and inspiration, and my colleagues
and university supervisors and professors who help ease the way, share in the journey and to simply enjoy
these last few months before I forge my own path that (hopefully) leads to my
own classroom.
Five goals. A handful
seems like a good number – not too many that I lose track and drop one, but
enough to put in a pocket close at hand so I can always hear that little voice
telling me to keep going.
One week down. Fifteen to go. I've got this.
