A Walk in My Shoes: Student Teaching

Good morning everybody. This is the first day of student teaching. I'm excited. I'm not that nervous because I was with Miss Wilson last semester for about two months. So the kids know me and I'll help them remember me. Well, we'll see how that goes. But I've made my lunch. I got my coffee, got my nametag and we should be ready to go. See ya'll later. So today is officially the first day of school. The kids are back from break and I'm excited to see how the day goes. I'm excited to start building those relationships with students. It'll be really interesting. I was running late because I didn't really gauge time well and I couldn't get an earring in, but I have one in. So, we'll see how the day goes based on my morning. I report back later. Miss Balding is going to be with her reading group, I'm with my reading group. If you need to, ask a friend for help. More power to you. But it should be like one question, maybe a two-minute interruption and then you're back to doing what you're doing. 

Today is Tuesday January 8th. And today was my first day of student teaching and it was awesome. It was so tiring and so overwhelming but great. I love this group. There's just a lot of different personalities in there. I think it's going to be a really great semester. I feel like unprepared really right now and I think that's kind of how a lot of my classmates felt going into student teaching. We just feel like, oh my goodness. Now it's like legit and we have to teach, and you know, plan lessons and do all this stuff so it kind of, everything just hit me today, like I'm going to be doing this from the beginning school bell to the end. And it's exciting but it's nerve racking. 

Yesterday was my first day of teaching. You get to meet the kids for the first time and I played a little game with them to try to get, you know so I could start remembering names and everything, went great but I came home last night got sick and was throwing up all night. So what they say about schools is in fact true that there is a bunch of kids run around with a lot of germs and they don't wash their hands. One thing I learned as a teacher is to always have, you know, hand sanitizer and taking your vitamins and washing your hands all the time because it is pretty miserable being that sick. What they said was true. Schools are dirty. Kids are dirty and I've definitely learned my lesson, so hopefully next time I talk to you guys I've got better news and feel a little bit better so see you then.

Hi, my name is Halle Morris and for student teaching I'll be heading home to Hutchinson, Kansas in a fourth-grade classroom. So, I grew up in Hutchinson, Kansas. It's always felt like home. I've always enjoyed being home with my family. I've always had such a good experience with teachers. The school districts and the people around me just kind of encouraging me and telling me that education is a good path for me. My fifth-grade teacher for sure, Mrs. Mallon. I remember my family was kind of having a little bit of a rough time and she just kind of took me under her wing and told me that everything was going to be OK. She was just that sense of comfort and I will always remember that. My parents never went to a four-year university. They both went to a two-year technical college. School for my family, they always kind of expected my sisters and I to do good. There wasn't a pressure but just that little push we needed to always do our best. And I never felt like I would disappoint them in any way, that was just kind of ingrained in me that school was important. The boys just kind of encouraged me through all my education and into college and they're just super excited for me now. I want to be a teacher because I truly feel like it's something that I was called to do. I just want to be a positive influence and a light in all of my students lives just that push they need to know that learning is fun and good and just you know I think being the light is, kind of, it's lacking right now and students could always use that.

I was actually on time today, but I was speeding in a school zone. So, I started off my morning with a nice lovely ticket on a Friday morning, but the rest of the Friday went great. And I can honestly say that just seeing the kids makes it even makes me forget about the ticket until after school of course, until right now. But that being said the past two days have just really been about building the relationships with students and getting to know the student's names getting to know their personalities and what their strengths and weaknesses are. My biggest worry right now is just discipline. My cooperating teacher has been really good about expressing that "Hey, I want you to step in whenever you can." And even though she says it's still just a little bit uncomfortable, so I'm excited for next week when we really get more into all of the academics of school, and hopefully next week I can report that I don't have any speeding tickets and that I'm not late to school. 

As a cooperating teacher I see my role as being not only somebody who is modeling for somebody coming in, but also building that relationship and just trying to be as transparent and as honest with that student teacher as possible. You want to put your best foot forward, you want her to see or him to see, you know, how great everything is, but it's not and it's OK. I've said that several times over the course of the years. You know what, today wasn't the best, tomorrow will be better. I try to let them know I don't put it on the kids, put it on yourself. How can you be better tomorrow? Because the kids are coming, they're just being who they are, you know. And so, it's like even though you might feel like well, I worked hard on this lesson plan you know why didn't it go right? Well you're going to have days like that. So just know that and just say tomorrow will be a better day and we'll come at it from a different direction. Really for me, it has helped me learn to give up a little bit of control. I am a very structured, routine-oriented person. And when you bring another person into the classroom you do have to let go of some of that. But I think that's important for me. But it's also really important for the students to get that other perspective of somebody that might have a different teaching style. I'm not even concerned about the accents, I'm concerned about these because they?re not getting it. I think the cooperating teacher is a very important role because you are exposing the students to their first interaction in a real classroom. They will have to take responsibilities that they never took before. It is so important that first exposure of these students in the classroom because the cooperating teacher will be able to guide them. When you teach you have to have the classroom management, you have to be able to talk to a student and at the same time pay attention to everything that is going around you because you are responsible for those students. So the role of a cooperating teacher I think, is very interesting because it's the line of one being an educator to the student teacher themselves, but also being a friend and a confidant for the student teacher. One aspect you always want to make sure that you are helping and aiding the student teacher in their endeavors but also you want to make sure that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. So it's this very interesting combination of being a teacher and a friend at the same time.

Kevin was a very compassionate kid very friendly. He would always go to places and introduce himself to other people. Always liked to be around kids his age. He was born in Puerto Rico. And then I joined the military when he was five years old. So then we moved to the states and he grew up for the most part in Texas. He taught swim lessons to young kids and adults. And I think that made him want to become a teacher. Remember, goodbye, but we have one more day, yes, we?re going to make the mask for the sport teams. The wolf, the tiger, the owl, the lion. I hope to bring authenticity to the table when I'm teaching Spanish and ultimately humor. I like to make people smile and laugh and feel good. And I believe that just a simple smile can change a whole person's life around. I think he's going to be a great teacher. I think he's going to be one of those teachers that can build relationship with the students and really connect to them. He's going to touch many lives and make a difference as a teacher. It is hard work sometimes, it's hard. And you feel like you want to give up. But then at the end of the day when the kids come back, in his case talking in Spanish, or they come back to you and thank you for something, you know that it was all worth it. The fact that he finished his degree, he persevered. He's a very positive person. All those qualities make me proud. 

Today was actually the first day I taught my first lesson. So that was exciting. I knew I knew I was going to do that today. I had been watching my cooperating teacher, Mr. Rix, teach this lesson to a couple of classes. So he told me "Hey, just teach what I taught." You know, he just kind of handed me the reins for a class period. And to say the least, it didn't go as well. It did not go well. It did not live up to my expectations. You know, I got up in front of class and I thought I knew my content. I was looking at the first slide and I was just drawing a blank. I didn't know what to say because I didn't make the slides myself. My teacher did. He's the one that created the talking points. And you know, I thought I could just kind of emulate what he was doing. I got to that first slide and I drew a blank. I forgot the election in 1920. I couldn't remember who won it and I was just kind of standing there with a blank look on my face. I was so focused on trying to do exactly what my teacher did. I was trying to use the same jokes and it just did not come off as authentic. When the students came up to me afterwards and said, "Hey man, just a little tip of advice. We're just a bunch of teenagers, we have little to no idea what you're talking about. So if you just go up there with some confidence and teach to us it?s like we're not going to know what you're saying is true or false, we're going to believe you. But if you go up there, timid and scared, talking to us," he's like, "we're not going to believe you and we're going to tune out." It kind of hit me hard, like, wow, like my first lesson, and a student's already giving me tips on how to teach better. So it was kind of a humbling experience.

Hi, we're the Frantz family and we're the proud parents of Scott Frantz. We have three boys and Scott is our youngest. Raising a houseful of boys was never quiet, and as they grew the grocery bill during the teen years was frightening and we were going to lots of sports activities. Scott was more compassionate. Not that the others weren't, but more so of him. Even in elementary he had some autistic kids in his class and his teachers would call me and say, Scott just really seems to have a connection with them. Is it okay if we have him help them. That was kind of a sign that that was just his area. I knew Scott had compassion and I knew that, you know, being good in sports, I think that would tie well in with his coaching. I think he wants to coach as well. And I just thought what a great fit that would be if he would tie that all together and follow through with teaching and coaching. You know it's not easy to go into teaching and I think through K-State football, I think that gives him a great understanding of working through challenges and setting goals and I think he does a great job with that. And I think he'll do a great job teaching young individuals in the classroom and on the field. I think he has the ability to not just look at what is happening with that child right then how they're reacting but trying to look beyond or around that of what's causing that. Just a different mindset that you have to have. Sometimes you don't know what they're going through their life their challenges and sometimes people just see them in the hallway or in different situations and settings and judge them. And I think what Scott brings is a lot of understanding and an ability to see what that person can truly be and not just what they are in that moment. And I think with all teachers they have a real patience and understanding and vision that they can see the good in everything. I think Scott really has that quality where he sees the good in people. We've seen all the work that he's put in to get to where he's at right now. And you know playing at K-State has been a great experience and he?s going to be a four-year starter at left tackle. I mean I don't think that's ever been done in the recent history, and just his desire and work ethic and his God-given ability has put him in a situation to do that. Hopefully you know there might be some years after K-State finishes up this year, but you know he always has a degree to go back to and I think he'll do a great job in the classroom because he'll build a relationship with kids and I think it'll be a great experience. When that time comes, he'll enjoy going into teaching.

So I went to bed last night thinking, hey tomorrow is going to be another normal day of me just kind of sitting and observing and just getting a feel of the classroom. But no, I got a text from my cooperating teacher about five thirty this morning saying, hey I'm going to be gone today. My daughter is sick and I need to stay home and take care of her, so I'm not sure if there's going to be a sub or not, but hopefully there is, just to have someone there for you.? So I was kind of in panic mode this morning and then I realize that there would be a sub and I was like, OK, that's kind of cool. And then in her instructions, she was like, but he is going to be more of your help rather than me helping him.

So in other words, I kind of just took over the classroom today. I was the substitute. Being in the classroom, you know these kids teach you what to do more so than you could ever learn just sitting in a classroom hearing about classroom management. Just learning how to deal, what works best for this kid, and dealing with what works best for this kid, it's not all the same. Classroom management for me is one thing that I'm probably not as good at. Just because I'm such a laid-back guy, I'm a very personable guy. I notice as you develop relationships with kids, they'll test you. You know, they'll kind of walk that line, see what they can get away with. It's so easy to get off task in Spanish class. Sometimes I think I'm too nice.  But I'm getting better at it.

When I think of my own classroom management style, I think I'm more on the strict side. It's definitely a lovingly strict but it is stricter. When you're in education we're always worried about classroom management. And one of the techniques that I learned this semester is team points. We came back from winter break and those students in their new groups all formed the name and that's their name for the rest of the year. And then you know if they're doing something right. If they're going at it with efficiency, following directions, at the end of the day we find the team with the most points and then the next day they have some sort of reward. I use attention getters just to make sure everybody is on the same page. I'll do the three to one call do you know, waterfall. Waterfall, or all eyes on me. There's attention getters for kindergartners. There's attention getters us high schoolers. OK. Good morning guys. First of all, for pre-K and all that, they say, "All eyes on me" or "Let's put bubbles in our mouths," and they get quiet. For high schoolers, if you say that, they're going to look at you like, what? So the first week I thought the way she got the student's attention by clapping she was doing it great. I felt a little awkward doing it. But this is the third week now and I do it with no problem. Anything tonight, just get their attention and they know look at me and so we can move on and go forward.

So I'm from Hutchinson, Kansas. I grew up there. It was a small enough town where you knew everyone.  I'm very close to my family. My two older sisters are very close to me. One lives in Texas with her husband and my oldest sister and her husband have two kids. So I love being an aunt. Growing up I always knew I wanted to live in a bigger city. I love Chicago New York and I just knew I wanted that big city life. I've just always known that I wanted to be a teacher and I knew I wanted to teach in the inner city. And my parents have always supported me in that. She worked for a ministry in our church and they worked with kids that were lower income maybe had a parent that wasn't in the house. She just had a heart for kids and out of that flowed her desire to be a teacher. So she had her first week of student teaching and she was really nervous about moving to Kansas City new school everybody was new But I talked to her after her first week and she started sharing some stories. And she told me how much she missed the kids already after the first week. And she can't wait to get back on Monday and be with them. And she's going to be an awesome teacher.

I'm a pilot with Southwest Airlines. I've been a pilot for probably 25 years now. I can see things happen now that I see some of the younger guys that are flying with me don't see coming. Student teaching four months that's, she's got a steep learning curve but just like with my job and any job, it's going to get better and better as she goes. And I think that she'll just add new pieces to that every year to make the experience for the kids better. I'm proud of her perseverance helping others and making a difference. She's going after that dream. Probably what I'm most proud about with Hannah is her enthusiasm. She's channeled all that energy into helping other people.

This last week I had to deal with something that was I don't know just kind of intense. My teacher was out of the room and so it was Friday and we have lunch in the classroom on Fridays for fun Friday. If they're you know they've been behaving correctly for the week and I was eating with them and I heard a boy call another boy a girl and everyone in the class heard it. And I just kind of looked at him in disbelief like Did you really just say that. And this boy who was called a girl he just shut down. He laid his head down and just automatically started crying. And so I'm looking for my teacher first of all I'm in shock about what this boy said. My teacher's not in the room and all the kids are looking at me. And so I pulled this boy over and I you know just said like, "Hey what is going on?" like why did you say those hurtful things. He just said he was joking and everything. And that bothered me just to see this kid shut down and then this cannot be very sorry about it. It just, it kind of hurt me.

And that's when I realized that I must really care about these kids because if they are bringing each other down tearing each other down it hurts me too. And so my teacher said that's a good feeling to have because that means you care about these kids we had a staff meeting with five or six of the social studies teachers and one of the teachers was late and she had a student that came to her crying and she was just bawling her eyes out talking about how she feels like she doesn't have any friends and how she feels like you know no one cares for her. And she felt so misplaced and insecure but what really stuck out to me was as you know as the teacher was talking about this not incident but event that happened. She said her name and I was just sitting in the back of this meeting like oh my gosh like I, I just talked to this girl no more than an hour or two hours ago she actually came up to me and was like oh hey I'm here I what we know but you know I'm going to go to different classroom and work on some homework just tell Mr. Rix I checked in I'm going to go to the classroom next door. And I had no idea. I came to the realization that it's so important for us teachers to really get to know our students and really get to know them on a personal level. You know maybe I could have made her day say Oh hey how's your day going. It just goes to show that it really does matter to the students how much their teachers care about them.

One afternoon my cooperating teacher left me alone. It's like the first time on my own officially and by the end of the day we had two girls in tears, and I was like oh my gosh my teacher leaves me alone for one afternoon and they're two in tears. But one of the girls just really opened up about how she's been feeling bullied and how she feels suicidal sometimes. And just hearing a fifth grader say that it wasn't anything that I would have even considered in fifth grade like I knew of suicide but it's just so prevalent in our world now and people are just so aware of it just I wasn't expecting that conversation to come up. But in a way I'm glad it did because I was able to talk to her and just be like my cooperating teacher and I want you here. We love you here. You always have a place here you're safe here. Like I never realized how true that is for the majority of kids like they'll feel as so much more at home at school our relationship since then has just taken off. It's good to know that she trusts me enough to confide in me.

I really wanted to become a teacher because of my mom. She is an elementary school teacher and my mom really influenced me to become an educator. Hi I'm Joy Mae Johnson. I have been teaching for 34 years. I am the proud mother of Angela Johnson. Angela was very outspoken. If something came up and she didn't agree with it, she would certainly give you her opinion. That was a good thing because I think it made her a stronger individual. She loved to play outside, and she and her sister would play in my classroom after school and pretend to be teachers she has always enjoyed helping others not just in a school setting but she has always been the go getter wanting to help other people. I think that was something that made her realize that she wanted to be in front of a group of students and share that love of math and other subjects as well. I am really excited to just be in a classroom where the teacher her area of concentration is math. And so I can't wait to see her be passionate about what I'm passionate about. I've spent so much time during my college career studying mathematics.

Now I'm just worried about covering all of the other contents for fifth grade. I am very proud of her because she always pushes herself and I'm very proud of her for becoming a teacher because as I'm leaving the profession retiring and knowing that my daughter is going to be in the classroom to help children is probably one of the greatest things that I could possibly dream Student teaching provides the  avenue of success in teaching. It's important it gives you that opportunity to not necessarily fail but to understand that it's OK not to know. Immersion in any capacity is a good thing. Whether it's a foreign language whether it's teaching or being a doctor or whatever when you can have a fellowship or a mentorship or some kind of immersion in what you want to learn. That is the best and easiest way to learn and that's what student teaching is.

I remember when I was a student teacher I was told if you're ever going to try something try it now because you know my cooperating teacher was there to help me and that's things I would like my student teachers to do as well. You know if you want to try something that you're afraid of doing now would be the best time to do it because there's someone else in the room that can help you. Failure really lets you move forward in life. And it's not just student teaching. In any aspect of life whenever you try something and you fail you learn from it.

My lectures became better because I failed that first time, so failing forward is just it's almost a necessary step that you have to take in order to become better. Failing will happen at any time in your life even as a teacher. I am going to fail big time. That is what we decide to learn from that moment that will turn our lives and that will make us better. We tell kids all the time we learn from our mistakes. But if you're having mishaps and you adapt and grow from that then you're showing that you're a learner and a teacher at the same time. I've tried to stress to the student teachers that it's OK to have a bad day  you know and it's OK even to apologize to the kids and say you know what we're going to do better tomorrow and it's OK for them to see you, you know not be your best you know because you're human. In order for a student teacher's semester to go well I really believe that the student teacher should seek out as much as they can. It's your student teaching semester and treat it as such. You want to gain as much as you can from that semester.

So if you ever want to go that extra mile just do it. Student teaching is very important because you're learning how the classroom  actually works how to do your routines how to deliver instruction how to deal with you know those students that are making counterproductive decisions in your classroom how to communicate with parents you're learning a lot of different things. Teaching is a tough job and it's a high stakes job and it's a serious matter. There's a fine line to building relationships with kids and being their educator. Yes, you can build relationships but also you should focus on being that adult. That's teaching them whether it's student teaching or your first classroom. I think relationships are the first thing that you should focus on. So those first two weeks you know they're there for us to build the relationships for the kids. And so I really wanted to know names you know you talk to a kid the very first day and it's like hey I know your name is Marlon you know and she's like, oh my goodness, I have no idea who you are. But you know my name. It's like boom there's an automatic connection If you don't put yourself out there and start creating and building those relationships right away. Then I feel like you're always going to feel distanced. They're not going to feel like this is a teacher in my classroom. They're just going to think this is an observer.

It was interesting the first day I got here. Yeah it was quite obvious that I played some sort of sport at Kansas State. They're like oh my gosh look how tall this guy is and how big this guy is. It was really good for me because it's started to let me build relationships with my students especially with the male athletes. They had the instant connection of Wow this guy's a division one football player. Looking back on things I wish I would have kind of opened myself up sooner first I kind of had a barrier between myself and my students. I was just kind of locked up and it wasn't till I became a lot more comfortable in this environment a lot more comfortable with my students that I began to open up and once I did that you know I became a better teacher. They need to respect you and you need to obey you and to not just be their friend. I've honestly noticed that some who I have friended it seems more difficult to tell them to follow the rules. It is the morning of the day I have my first formal evaluation. I'm kinda nervous. Just the word "observed" I am going to be coming to observe you. You know it just kind of freaks me out and makes me kind of stress out even more, so I was just really scared. What if, you know, my kids are bad. What if you know this is going to happen or this is going to happen. I probably spent too long on my lesson plan. I went through every detail just to make sure it was perfect and making sure all the modalities are there you know getting the kids out of these seats using technology. And then I'm just thinking not every lesson is you get to be as detailed as this. Last week was rough. First of all, I got observed again and that went horrible because I got nervous. I got really nervous and I let that nervousness take the best of me and my cooperating teacher says that I stood there like a board. Then second hour I was fine. I was engaging with the student and I was laughing with them and I was having a good time and my cooperating teacher even told me that it was like night and day. That's like literally like scribbles. You were scribbling on that one. And my CT Miss Sueppel, she was just very helpful just like you know this is what you're doing. You know you do this every single day. You know you're just having one more person watch you. It was fine. And my kids did great and she told me I was a natural.

My first formal observation went really well and I'm just looking forward to the rest of this semester. I don't know why that felt so good to get it done but it did. My supervisor said that it's nearly impossible to get 100 percent engagement from all the students. Most of the time usually at 80 to 90 percent. And that was kind of encouraging. It's not me if the kids aren't fully engaged and it's pretty impossible. It was just so good to hear her say like this is what you are supposed to be doing teachers make mistakes. You know lessons aren't always going to be perfect. And I just think that's just so good to know because I, I try to be a perfectionist but teachers are always learning and I think that's so cool because my teachers have been teaching 22 years and you know she's still learning things it's important to be a professional during student teaching I think because you are transitioning from being a college student to being a professional and that was kinda of hard for me because I had to get out of a college mindset but now it's like I want to do well at student teaching. I want people to see me as an individual fit for this profession, and in our block C. They really emphasize that. So I think just making that transition I'm no longer a college student and I am a role model. I need to be positive for these kids not only how I dress but how I talk and how you act.

We made a fourth-grade Facebook page and on the groups that were using our personal account. So we had a marketing team come and make sure you set the private, make sure you're looking at what you posted kind of deal because those are things that happen. Even as a fourth-grade teacher they may not be looking at your Facebook, but parents are definitely curious to see who's the new student teacher in their classroom. Last time I talked to guys I talked to you about how I'm trying to get to know my students more. Let me tell you, it goes both ways. My students are definitely trying to get to know me more in a good way and also kind of in a weird way. Kids nowadays they don't hold back they look you up on Google. They type in your name on Twitter or Facebook. They were you know searching through all my tweets trying to get to know what they're trying to get to know me or try to find something funny I'm not really sure. But yeah, students are pretty ruthless when it comes to invasion of privacy.

One important thing that I have dealt with this week is boundaries. The other day, this student he knows somehow that I am getting married. And then he comes out and he says "Hey". He said first of all I said my first name. He said, "Hey Kevin, can I come to your bachelor party?" Yeah. And as soon as he said that not good my cooperating teacher did not like that, and I didn't like it either. Comments like that get you in big trouble. And yeah. So that's like one of the biggest things, is knowing where that boundary is.

I think it makes a difference when you're part of a community. The investment you have within that community. I have three children within our district. I want our district to be the absolute best that it can be for my own kids. And when I hire teachers, I work hard to hire teachers that I would be proud to put my own children in their classroom. Our team wants a teacher that student focused that bases their decision on what's best for each student not for what's best for them. As a teacher not what's best for the content but they have a heart for students and their ability to learn. Are kids that come from poverty have some additional challenges and they need a greater level of love and care and support. And it takes a teacher with a big heart to be able to bounce back day after day and provide that kind of support to kids. We can teach things about instruction and classroom management and provide support so we can teach that part. But you can't teach heart. Sometimes it's the support they don't get at home. And so we have to make sure that we find ways to give it to them at school. You have children that are at different learning levels but also you have children who are at different levels emotionally socially emotionally. And you have to be able to be in tune with those kids and you have to be able to be willing to get to know them in order to be able to reach them.

It's important for me that they have a growth mindset that they don't have preconceived notions of what a student can and should be able to do. Until you walk in the shoes of that student's life you don't know what they bring in the doors every day. I see a lot of young teachers come in and they know physics or how to write a wonderful paper but you can't get to the content until you've mastered the art and science of relationship building and classroom management. Students crave structure they crave discipline particularly those that don't have it outside of school. They want it and they need it. Teaching is not friendship. Leadership is not friendship. And so when they can see that you have that kind of connection with them they'll do cartwheels down the hallway for you. But as soon as they see that you don't really care you're not genuine in your heart you've lost them. Teaching is such a powerful important career. And I know that education is a hard field to be a part of. But there are so many benefits to creating great opportunities for kids and to establishing foundations that children will use for the rest of their lives. You get to be that person that builds that and that is powerful beyond words.

Today was probably the hardest days of student teaching. Yesterday my teacher was sick and I didn't find out until I was on my way to school and my university supervisor was coming to watch me teach a lesson. And I don't know what happened after lunch, but we had some major behavior just between two students. We just been having a lot of bickering going on people getting into other people's business when they're not needed. But I just felt like I was not as kind as I wanted to be today. I had to get after students, so we did a science experiment. I had some kids who didn't even want to do it didn't want to do the experiment didn't want to do this assignment didn't want to do a flip grid and I had a hard time with that. Actually it never dealt with that. So it's just I don't really know how to do things just completely by myself like that. I still had to rely on someone but even going to the bathroom like one time my teacher was gone and I had to ask Ms. Mitchelson, the fourth grade teacher across the hall to just keep an eye on my kids because I had to go to the bathroom so bad and just things like that you don't think about it until you're in it and you're experiencing it. It's just it's crazy. And you know I was hard on all my kids today because I seriously love them. I want the best for them I want them to have to learn as much as they can while I'm here and I, I hope that I'm just effective in doing in being here.

One of the most difficult things about the semester was as you become closer with your students you begin to know more about them and sometimes that can be good and sometimes it can be heartbreaking because a lot of kids especially in my special education classrooms come from some rough situations and a lot of times these kids they didn't get like the right education when they're younger they have the right you know supporting cast. I had kids they come to school in the same clothes you know they're obviously not getting the food that they need and that's the most difficult thing is seeing problems that you can't fix. I had one of my students pass away. that was extremely difficult. That stuff really kind of gets to you.

Obviously growing up in high school when you hear about people's you know family members passing away and as tragic as that was it's a whole different ballgame when you're a teacher because you have a different connection with these kids a lot of unexpected things happen because when you're dealing with hundreds of kids you're subjected as a teacher to a lot of different people's lives and the tragedies that can occur. That's something I never really thought about just the kind of baggage that that you either learn about or just the things that randomly happened. I think it's so important for student teachers any teachers to understand that we can't be perfect nobody's perfect and that's just it's a standard that we'll never meet. But it's knowing that we can come back the next day and start fresh. We have the opportunity to start fresh and inspire those kids that we might not have inspired the day before. There is always new opportunity with every day this semester Scott really tried some out-of-the-box things. He really embraced creativity things such as maybe annotated timelines one pagers even protest posters.

The thing that I really liked about Scott was is the relationship that he had with the students on numerous occasions. I would just sit back and listen to the conversations that he was having with students. I've learned a lot from Mr. Rix. In terms of classroom management. Mr. Rix is a great laid-back guy but he was also a drill sergeant in the military for a handful a year so he can be very demanding when he wants to. One thing I've learned in terms of classroom management is it's easier to ease up and give students a longer leash than it is to take leash away from them. With Kevin, I have learned his passion for technology. He loves to incorporate a lot of technology and you can see it in his face when he passes that love for technology. I've learned to explore new options just because Kevin was there, and I appreciate that. I've learned a lot from Mrs. Wilson But the most important thing that I learned so far is that your last class will always be your best class because your first hour your teaching and then you realize some things that you didn't do or you didn't get to do. Then second hour you fix it. You perfect that and then as each class goes by, you're getting better and better at it. Hannah has taught me just the honesty I think in the transparency and the not being afraid to ask questions and every day she comes with a smile. It takes me back.

When I was student teacher in Cedar Rapids, Iowa having a cooperating teacher there to kind of guide you through it is always a good thing. Any time Mrs. Sueppel was talking I just wish I could remember that you know I'm like oh I'm going to need to know that for this next year I just wanted to soak it all up during the time that I was here. Having Miss Johnson this semester. I think the biggest thing she taught me is more informal assessment instead of the homework and the worksheets. I've always been a big proponent of sending homework home but I've really in the last couple of years tried to get away from that and she did a really great job of incorporating assessment within her lesson to know what the kids have learned that they still met the objectives and that there was evidence of that. The learning, the intern learns from the cooperating teacher with the lessons cooperating teacher can learn from the interns. I think that's just an opportunity for everybody involved to just be a better teacher and a better person. One of the things that I've observed from my cooperating teacher that I really want to continue in my own classroom is to just be consistent.

Kids notice if you have one expectation and you don't follow up on it that damages the relationship. So just consistency. The biggest lesson I've learned from watching how she sets the classroom community. I'm learning that it's so important for them to feel that sense of community to be kind to each other and if they know and they have that expectation that they're to be kind to each other then everything else just goes much smoother with that. For the future student teachers make sure you thank them. Make sure you let them feel that everything they've done for you. You appreciated it and you've learned from it and make them feel good because they're taking the time out from their schedule to actually teach you Teaching requires you to be on every time you're around your kids. If you can give it your full attention give it all your efforts. That's the best way to get the most out of your experience. I feel like student teaching is kind of a giant job interview. It is your real-life experience in a classroom where you get to compile everything that you've learned in the previous semesters and put in an action. I think when students commit to a student teaching 100 percent and really maximize the learning time from that a student teaching time that you have always come open mind.

I did my student teaching having five children and there were days that I couldn't go to my son's soccer games because I had to study to teach my lessons or I had to grade and I know it's hard, but this is going to be your job. So it is only a semester. I don't think you can place enough emphasis on how important it is to plan and prepare for lessons. And then after you implement those lessons be reflective and take more time to reflect on how it went and what you could have done better so that when you go back and redo that lesson it's better each time. I can see also the survival mode of I need to work because I got to pay the bills. I see that in a college student but maybe something else gets cut back. Maybe social time gets cut back. If you work, you might be tired when you are teaching in those little moments. They're just, you're not even aware of that because you are tired. So just commit 100 percent. You have to know that anything worth having is going to require hard work and time. If you really commit 100 percent to your student teaching experience your whole journey will be ten times better in the sense that you will invest in your profession.

So I just finished making some little goodbye gifts for my kiddos and I'm slightly getting a little bit sentimental. And those are gifts for my CT And then the other fifth grade teacher. It is a Friday. It is the last day of student teaching and I walked in this morning to this for the graffiti wall. That one's really sentimental but the rest of them I think would be good. Just got to my car. It's feels weird to know that I won't have anything to do next week besides work. I got lots and lots of hugs from people I didn't even expect to get hugs from. A lot of kids got more sentimental than I expected. I cried twice but happy tears for sure. And I'm about to drive off from Bluemont for the last time as a student teacher. So next time I come back I will be a middle school math and science teacher somewhere else and I will just be a visitor. So that will be weird. But good day. Good semester. People aren't kidding when they say they have a special place in your heart. So I'm just gonna miss the kids. I love their personalities they're so sweet they each are also unique and have different talents and to just see them thriving in the classroom academically some of them have just wowed me. It's just seeing like where they're going to go and so just waking up every day. You know it just became a norm and you know just that's not happening anymore. It will just be really weird not being around them.

I got done with elementary school yesterday and I wanted to show you guys what I made my kids do. So here we got the rain right. La lluvia, that's supposed to be a penguin, el pinguino, el sol and over here they actually I didn't tell them to label. Some of them did. They labeled El leon, la Llluvia pretty nice el delfin. They kind of spelled it wrong but that's OK from the first week I was there till the last week I was there. They knew it all. And that really surprised me and made me so proud that they were actually learning. And it felt good. It felt really good. And I think that's one of the one of the best things about me a teacher is those proud moments that that realization that your kids are actually learning and everything you're teaching them is getting stuck in their heads. And it's just amazing. And I'm, I'm happy coming back to student teach in Hutchison has just been fulfilling to me because it's so neat getting to work with people and teachers that I've had, and then coming back to the community and seeing the students that are growing up in Hutchinson just knowing that I have that impact on them as part of what makes me excited to go into your next year knowing that I'll have my own fourth grade classroom here and just being back in Hutchinson and giving back to the community that way.

It's such a kind of mixed emotions because on one side this was a really crazy semester for me. So part of me is like I can't wait to be done. But on the other hand, it will be so crazy like leaving all the relationships that I developed here. The kids that put a smile on my face every day Although this chapter of my teaching career is over there's going to be so many more great chapters to come.