About a week ago I FINALLY got to start my student teaching! It lasts until the end of November, then we go back to class for a couple weeks to debrief. Next semester I have another month of student teaching in March, and then in Fall of 2011 I will do my semester-long student teaching (in Houston!) and I will be officially be a teacher!
This semester I have the AMAZING opportunity to be teaching in a third grade class in the Salt Lake urban school district. I specifically switched into this district because originally I was placed in the Jordan district (boring) and I wanted the diversity and management experience with urban kids before I move to downtown Houston where kids aren't all middle class and LDS :)
I won't lie, I was terrified the first couple of days. I felt incapable and intimidated by all the things that teachers are expected to do nowadays. I felt like I was going to ruin these kids' education because I didn't know what I was doing. Most of all I was afraid to fail because this is the one thing that I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember, and if I couldn't hack it here, what on earth was I going to do with my life?!!?
Thank goodness for my amazing husband. He sat me down and talked some straight-up sense into me. He encouraged me and in a very loving way told me I was being a little ridiculous and unfair to myself. You see, I have this problem where I feel the need to be the best at everything, and then I basically beat myself up when I realize I may not be perfect at something.
All it took was that discussion with him and couple of days to get used to the routines and meet my mentor teacher, and now I love it! I can't disclose a lot of information on the internet, but suffice it to say that it has been a very eye opening experience so far, and I'm only a week into it! I love all the kids, and especially after learning what difficult home situations most of them come from, I am more determined than ever to be the best (student) teacher I can be!
:)
1 comment:
i'm glad you're having a great time!!! I'm in the Alpine school district and I only have 3 white kids in my class so it probably has pretty simliar statistics to your urban school. i think hispanic little boys are the cutest! haha. Do you have to get up EXTREMELY early? I think i would die if I had to drive to salt lake every day. My school is 10 minutes away... and that's still too early for me to get there at 730!
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