Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Not a Moment to Spare

The first week was a long one, especially for not having school on Monday! This week has already seemed to fly by!  I realized today that by the end of these eight weeks I am not going to want to leave these first graders.  I am sure I will love the fifth grade just as much, perhaps not, but I will miss all these personalities I am getting to know.
I have already jumped right into teaching. I have done a few safety lesson, done plenty of read alouds, and today I started in with their morning meeting. The MM included weather, calendar, schedule, and letter of the day writing. My local supervisor also made his second visit into the classroom today to watch me observe. I am getting a lot of positive feedback from him and co-operating teacher :-) Of course, as many early teachers, classroom management is what I feel needs the most work.
I am already starting my lessons for my Teacher Work Sample next week, it will continue for the next two and a half weeks after I start.  It is pretty early to be starting, but I feel the more practice I get, the more comfortable and more experience I will gain! Plus it will only benefit me in my second half of student teaching as well as my future! 
I was almost positive I would fall in love with what I am doing once I started, now that I have it is an amazing feeling to know that I am truly loving what I get to do everyday. Teach and be with these kids as they grow! December 9th will be here before I know it!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Student Teaching in St. Louis!

I've decided to start my blog back up to help me reflect on my student teaching experience and hopefully build some communication with other student teachers! I started my first 8-week placement in a first grade classroom at a rather well off school district in the St. Louis area. I was informed that the school district I am working in is a pretty expensive district to live in. The particular school I am in is one of five schools in all of Missouri which require parents to pay for full time kindergarten.
My Co-op teacher is quite amazing. She has been teaching first grade for over twenty years!  I am soaking up her skills like a sponge. She and I have made quite a few changes to the plans that the University of Northern  Iowa wanted me to follow. For example, they would like the first 2-3 weeks to be just observing, we both agreed that was a lot of time to waste so I will begin doing small tasks, such as read alouds, starting tomorrow!
We have a rather large class for first grade, 21 students, 13 girls and 8 boys! I am very excited to work with these students. We have no IEP's and no ELL's which is something I was surprised about.
When I mentioned that the school was well off, I was pertaining to the amount of technology, materials, and aides that the school is given. I will be spoiled during my semester here, and I really hope to someday see these types of advances in all school districts. Although sadly I feel I will not see that day. The biggest fear I have during my student teaching experience is finding a job afterwards.  It seems there are not many jobs in this area, however I will not give up for my dream to become an educator. Patience Patience Patience!