- Day 1: Eat a big breakfast (not just toast and coffee) and a small lunch. Also, wear comfortable shoes. Your feet will thank you if you do. If you wear high heels, though, that's another story.
- Day 2: Classroom management, classroom management, classroom management! Also - having a substitute sucks if you've only been at the school for one day and are left in the dark.
- Day 3: Whoever created the stereotype that female teachers wear high heels all the time has neither been a teacher nor a woman. This statement also means that I don't have comfortable dress shoes, and I need them. (A rehash from the other day.)
- Day 4: Simple rules of learning plagiarism - "Be a Kanye, not a Vanilla Ice." Also, students will surprise you.
- Day 5: Keep your student teaching/teaching badge in a certain spot. This way, after the weekend, you won't be scrambling to find it and then somehow find it at the back of your mini-fridge - and barely. Also, apparently khaki pants and a nice sweater makes you look unprofessional, when no one has ever had a problem with you wearing them before.
- Day 6: Teachers are as excited, or even more excited, than students when school is canceled. Snow days, for the win!
- Day 7: Your professors who have prepared you for student teaching will say, "Don't be a bitch." "Don't be mean." "Try to make the students feel that they can talk to you." When you're in a school like mine, the teachers tell you, "Be a bitch."
- Day 8: Nothing says we care about education like the schedule given on a day with a two-hour delay AND a pep rally... but whatever. Also, it's a beautiful thing to see your students doing something they're passionate about.
- Day 9: Even if you and your students come from completely different backgrounds, try to get on their level. Understand what is important to them, and what factors might affect their mindset. Educational psychology and teaching courses will tell you this, but though it seems easy, it's not - and it's vital, or you and your students will never communicate on the same level. Also, there's nothing scarier than having a surprise visit from a supervisor/administrator when you feel like you bombed your first lesson of the day!
- Day 10: As a teacher, especially a new one, you may be forced to do a lot of things you don't want to do, like lead scripted classes that don't allow a lot of creativity.
- Day 11: I'm in the English department of a high school that is considered "failing" by the state. So, when you're trying to do everything right, and they keep throwing your "faults" (most of which are related to the community and culture as a whole, not the school), it's extremely discouraging. Also, English teachers can use other words to swear, but "fuck" will do just fine.
- Day 12: Teachers hate writing referrals as much as students hate getting them; it's not any easier if you're a teacher who is small and quiet and the offender is two feet taller than you with a smart mouth.
- Day 13: Even though smartassery is hilarious on a writing assignment, you can't grade it based on how amusing it is to you. Also, even though it seems cliche, it's true - students become your children, and it makes you proud to see them succeed.
- Day 14: Students will fight over the dumbest things, especially the dumbest comments. Unfortunately, this will escalate in a fight that is rather serious, and as a teacher, you'll probably find yourself in the middle, trying to mediate.
- Days 15 & 16: Signing up for the school's emergency alert system is the best idea ever, especially when your area gets hit by a massive ice/snow storm that cancels school for two days.
- Day 17: You know those "Staff Development Days" where, as a student, you didn't have to go to school? Yeah, totally not as much fun as they were when you were a student. In fact, I'm pretty sure I know what hell is like, now.
- Day 18: If you worry about your students, then that means you're at least going in the right direction - even if you feel like a complete failure.
- Day 19: Some teachers were jocks in high school. Some were nerds. We need more nerdy teachers (actual thing a teacher told me).
- Day 20: Students will test you. Students will drive you crazy. But do not give up.
- Day 21: During student teaching, you just so happen to forget or give up things... like another job, working out, or cleaning your room...yeah, that's normal.
- Day 22: Even if two of your students are rivals and one is probably trying to pulverize and/or kill the other and the school is aware of it, they will probably make the smart decision to PUT BOTH OF THEM IN THE SAME CLASS. Gee, thanks.
- Day 23: The theoretical lesson plans that you make for your college courses do not work in reality. They can help you get an idea of what it takes to plan, but not the real thing. The real thing is much, much more complicated and will make you want to tear your hair out.
- Day 24: Teachers get off task as much as students do, i.e. have a meeting discussing serious stuff, and going on tangents about Pokemon and Lady Gaga. Also, you are not alone, in whatever you go through.
- Day 25: Sometimes, drastic changes are made. (And here, I'm speaking more as a school thing, not a personal thing.)
- Day 26: When you finally assert yourself, it feels really good, and it does wonders for your teaching career.
- Day 27: Think about what you say before you say it. It could endanger your teaching (or student teaching) position, even if you didn't mean to do it.
- Day 28: Some days, the students will just NOT SHUT UP.
- Day 29: If you're tired at the end of the day, despite it being a good one, does that mean you're doing it the right way? Just wondering. I'm exhausted.
- Day 30: This might be stating the obvious, since it's not actually something *new* I've learned, but... teaching is hard work. Damn. I appreciate every one of my good teachers (and some of the well-meaning ones) for doing their best and putting up with me and my classmates!
- Day 31: Each day, there should be something gained from a lesson. If the students aren't learning anything new, what's the point?
- Day 32: Sometimes, students slip through the cracks. Perhaps they slipped through years ago. Even if you want to try to get them back, as hard as you try, you might still lose them. Just try as much as you can.
- Day 33: Often, student's perceptions of who you are differ drastically from the person you actually are. Adding to that, what education courses expect from you most likely do not apply in the actual classroom.
- Day 34: Planning is one of the most important things a teacher can do. It's almost as if there's a Holy Trinity of Teaching - Planning, Classroom Management, and Knowledge. Plan for EVERYTHING. Otherwise, you might have to change your lessons for next week...
- Day 35 (?): Correction - classroom management IS the most important thing you can do in a classroom. Without classroom management, there is no learning environment, and people get hurt.
- Day 36: Consistency is required to be an effective classroom manager.
- Day 37: Use your resources from the community, such as guest speakers. The results, if you've planned well enough, will be amazing.
- Day 38: A school is only as good as its community, its resources, its physical foundation, its technology, its curriculum, its mission, its teachers, its students, and its students' parents.
- Day 39: Think on your feet, but be prepared. It's important to let students have their way sometimes in how they show what they've learned, or else they won't want to learn. It's like you're holding the television remote and they want it.
- Day 40: Students deserve teachers who know what they are doing and are prepared. I'm not sure if I'm one of those teachers, but I'm going to try.
- Day 41: Did I mention that planning takes a lot of work and that you'll never be in bed by midnight as a teacher?
- Day 42: When a student has an offensive comment, never use sarcasm. It will just make you look like a bad person.
- Day 43: One of the most important things that affects a student teaching placement is the relationship and communication with the supervising teacher. If you can't communicate, then it doesn't work.
- Day 44: Life has a funny way of working out. Even if student teaching was a miserable experience, I've learned a lot from it and I'm okay with the fact that it is over.
jan 12 2011 ∞
mar 21 2011 +