If any of you know me well, you know that last year was not easy for me. I actually contemplated leaving the classroom altogether. I just couldn’t put my finger on what the real issue was, but over the summer I learned that my issue was never in the classroom. I’m sure that you either a. totally know what I’m talking about or b. can do a quick Google search of my school and find out what I’m talking about. In the aftermath of a disgusting, terrifying, maddening investigation into a person who rocked the foundation of my school, I was left thinking: oh yeah, I’m going to have a student-teacher next semester.
So many thoughts were swirling: Will she still want to come here with this chaos? Will she be nervous? Will she know what she’s getting into? However, the Lord spoke to my heart and my racing mind was quieted by the thought that He had taken care of me when He told me “no” on all of those other applications. He had taken care of me when I both literally and figuratively kicked and screamed out of anger and frustration and everyone thought I was losing it. He had taken care of me by shutting doors when I tried to leave the classroom altogether. He WOULD take care of me now.
I know that I was supposed to be the mentor and my student teacher the mentee, but I learned SO FREAKIN’ MUCH from her. I am eternally grateful for the experience and when I sat down to reflect on my top takeaways from the semester, I knew that I had to write a post about it. SO, here we go…Here is what I learned from letting my guard down, letting go of the reins, and letting someone else shepherd my flock for a semester.
- Remember to make the main thing the main thing. I won’t lie, it’s HARD teaching an EOC class. It’s pressure like you cannot imagine. I’m probably the most competitive person you’ll EVER meet…I love to win. Because of this love to win, I am brutal when it comes to that final exam (EOC). We learn, we re-learn, we remediate the hello kitty out of some symbols and theme. Now let’s think about this for a moment, though. Can you name any person who remembers what they scored on their 10th grade English II EOC (outside of a 10th grader)? I realized that if I didn’t tell my student teacher that this was the dreaded, scary, dark, looming EOC class, she would not have known – and that’s okay. I realized that I’m here to make my students better. Do I want them to be master essay writers and literary analyzer-extraordinaires? Yes. However, what I want most for them is to be more patient, more understanding, more responsible, more empathetic. I want them to be people of integrity who can light up a room with their bright personalities and impress anyone with their impeccable manners. I care that they are better people. At the end of the day, it’s not about who “reached proficiency”, but who reached for more. I want them to know that they are ALL talented beyond belief, capable of great things, and destined for success. More importantly, I want them to know without a shadow of a doubt that they ALWAYS have at least one cheerleader right in their corner hypin’ them up. Heading into the next semester, I am determined to remember that these sweet children are test-takers, yes – BUT they are also small flames to be kindled and sheltered so that their light shines in an often dim world. That, my friends, is the main thing.
- Hi, my name’s Lily and I’m a micromanager. Every time my student teacher gave my students choices or let them work on their own, a little part of me died. I realized that (I can literally smell a cell phone when it comes out of a backpack now but that’s beside the point) I was not allowing my students to make mistakes so that they could learn from them. It is so.freakin’.hard. for me to let them mess up when I see a “fix” before a problem starts. Having a student teacher taught me that what bothers me may not even be an issue for someone else. Also, if I never let little Johnny learn how to manage his time on his own, how will he ever manage his time in college? in the workforce? in the military? Heading into the new semester, I’m going to try my hardest (ya’ll hold me to it, please) to allow my students more freedom of choice. I’m also trying super hard to let them mess up and come up with ways to fix their mistakes without jumping in with a color-coded, alphabetized, “in case of this emergency” plan.
- It’s okay to work smarter and not harder. I’ve been known to dump hours and hours into making an exercise for my students….one time I even made my husband play a game of “Archetype Go Fish” during the Super Bowl. Oops! I forgot about the days of being a student-teacher where not just one exercise is new or fresh, but ALL OF THEM ARE HAND MADE FROM SCRATCH. I think some people actually think that we, as teachers, are handed a magical binder of lesson plans and activities and all we have to do is make copies and grade. HA! The majority of the teachers that I know handmake 75%-100% of the materials that they use to teach. I was fortunate enough to have a student-teacher who created BEAUTIFUL foldables, manipulatives, graphic organizers, ALL THE THINGS. She expressed to me how she was worried about “building up” her resource library and having all of the materials necessary for any grade level that she may be hired to teach. That’s when it hit me – it’s totally okay – AND NECESSARY – to work smarter, not harder. It is totally okay to rely on research-based, curriculum-strong materials that we already have at our fingertips to build a REALLY powerful lesson off of. We don’t have to make every little thing from scratch. Websites like CommonLit.Org make it SUPER easy for us to pull resources and add our own “twist” on the lesson. This way, we are utilizing texts that are rich in covering standards, yet we’re also tailoring the experience for our own flock of students. For example, why would I spend time writing tedious multiple choice questions for Elie Wiesel’s “The Perils of Indifference” speech when I could use the questions CommonLit provides for this moving piece? I simply print-and-go (1:1, you are a heavenly dream) then add my own activity where students apply their learning in a narrative piece and create a vocabulary foldable with unknown words (that could be used in their own persuasive speeches)! After watching my student teacher become a more confident, AMAZING, unit-planner and resource creator, I realized that it’s totally okay to give myself a break on the little things and let the students do “the hard part.” Aren’t they supposed to be doing all the learning here anyway? 😉
Overall, having a student-teacher was an incredible experience. I’m so thankful for all of the joy, love, and personality that she added to our classroom. I’m also so grateful for the takeaways I was able to learn from her. If you have a chance, definitely don’t be afraid to take the plunge and embrace an intern! Have you had a student-teacher? What are some of the big lessons that you learned from your intern?
