Exhibit A: Week 5.
Monday started off with the buzz of the alarm at the glorious 6:10am. I could not peel myself out of bed. I should have sensed there would be trouble this week after getting off to a rough start. Monday was just okay. I hoped for a little more energy and clarity by Tuesday but of course, no luck. Having to attend seminar on Tuesday after school put me in a sour mood. However, our speaker presented legal issues in education and it turned out to be wildly entertaining.
Wednesday was the day of all days. I left the house at 7:00am and did not return until after 8:00pm. After teaching a full day, having a doctor's appointment (of which I was late for), and attending another 3 hour seminar I walked out to my car in the metered parking at the University. Of course, the little twerp who gives out parking tickets was placing a ticket on my car as I used my key fob to automatically unlock the doors. Mind you, my meter had just expired and he let the guy next to me out of a ticket. Let's just say the waterworks started immediately. This was truly the straw that broke the camel's back. I stared the little twerp down and considered using my words to express the anger I felt inside but restrained myself. In my head I was thinking, "Teachers are role models. Act appropriately, you are in the parking lot of the College of Education." So, I let out a good cry for about 25 minutes and vented to Saint JoAnne, also referred to as "Mom".
Once the tears stopped I made my way home and decided to grade the post-assessment I administered over perimeter.This assessment was to assess my learning goals and unit that were developed for my Teacher Work Sample. As I was grading the assessments, I realized that I created a problem that was unsolvable. Of course all of you are thinking, "Duh, Christi, everyone knows you should take the test before you give it to your students." Well, I didn't think I needed to because it was a question where everyone's answer could be different and they would all still be correct. Moral of the story: ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS take the test before you administer it!!!! So once again, I called Saint JoAnne and sobbed uncontrollably until
she was finally able to console me enough understand my words. We decided I would put away all of my schoolwork until the next morning when I would talk to my Cooperating Teacher and ask for her guidance. I know my Cooperating Teacher and my mom will meet each other one day, in heaven, when they are both canonized as Saints. Both of them have an extraordinary gift, the ability to deal with my ridiculous antics and help me regain the voice of reason.
In the end, my Cooperating Teacher gave me some great advice. We were able to fix the problem and all is right in the universe again. And, contrary to my thoughts on Wednesday, I am not a failure. My class average for the pre-assessment Part 1 was a 50 percent. The post-assessment average turned out to be an 83 percent! For Part 3, the pre-assessment class average was 31 percent. Drum roll please.... the post-assessment class average for Part 3 was a 90 percent!
This week, my Cooperating Teacher has stepped out of the room quite a bit to let me have the students all to myself. When she does that, I feel like my security blanket is gone. But, I am learning a lot. Some days, I think I am learning more than my students. That is not to say that my students are not learning, but I feel that each day I am becoming a more competent educator. You can learn all you want from books and classes but it's when you are thrown in with the wolves that you really learn... and boy oh boy do you learn fast!
Since I forgot to provide a teaching tip from last week here are two!
Teaching tips from Week 5 and Week 6: "EVERY DAY OF STUDENT TEACHING IS AN INTERVIEW. MAKE SURE YOU ARE PUTTING YOU BEST FOOT FORWARD!""PICK YOU BATTLES WISELY! NEVER GET IN A POWER STRUGGLE WITH A CHILD. SOMETIMES THE MOST DIFFICULT THING TO DO IS TO WALK AWAY, BUT IT MIGHT BE THE BEST THING."
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