I am really excited about student teaching at S. R. Elementary this semester. I have never had the opportunity to student teach before, so it is going to be a little nerve racking the first day when we are giving our first lesson on soil, but I think the extra pressure is going to help me out in the long run. There are always going to be people coming into our classrooms to watch our lessons when we are hired next September (hopefully!), so it is something I am going to have to get used to. I think that if I am prepared to give my lesson comfortably in front of my superiors right from the start, the transition will be a lot easier when the time comes to do it for real.
I am looking forward the most to interacting with the students in the classroom, and I hope they respond well to us, and to the material we will be teaching them about soil. Hopefully we can make the material interesting to them so they will be excited every week when we come in to teach our next lesson on soil. I am a little nervous right now about how the students will respond to us on the first day because that transitional period is always the hardest time for me before we really get to know each other, which I am sure will happen quickly and those nerves will fade away. I am also looking forward to getting feedback not only from Michelle, Bindu, and Jane, but also from the teacher whose classroom I will be teaching in. I think it will mean a lot to me if a teacher feels confident in me and Alyssa's abilities and has no problem handing her classroom over to a pair of students who have never taught a lesson before, but at the same time, any criticism will not be taken lightly and will be constructive whether it is positive or negative. It is going to be in the back of my mind until we get that first lesson under our belt, so I am excited to get the process underway to rid some of those nerves and to begin the practical part of the program!
Erik, You have such a great attitude about the feedback we will be getting over the semester. Like you said, we will probably be observed and evaluated a lot over the next few years so it's good to start now. Thanks for sharing your perspective on it!
ReplyDeleteErik,
ReplyDeleteI share your nervousness about our superiors' evaluation. It is something I have had nightmares about, but something that all of us will get over. I think that the best way to get students interested in soil is to introduce it as a living system. Really helping them understand that there is so much complexity right below our feet is something that will get them interested right away. Think about this quote I will present to you from a book titled "Soil not Oil"....."A Danish study analyzed a cubic meter of soil and found 50,000 small earthworms, 50,000 insects and mites, and 12 million roundworms. A gram of the soil contained 30,000 protozoa, 50,000 algae, 400,000 fungi, and billions of individual bacteria."
There is so much life below our feet. Think about ways to teach about the life in the soil and I think you can make it interesting.