May 1st, 2014
Dear Lauren on January 1st, 2014,
Happy New Year! It’s me. Or is it you? Or more precisely it’s you about four months in the future. You’ll ring in the New Year in a great way, although at the time you’ll be grumpy. Let it go and enjoy the first day of 2014. The first half of the year will fly by. Now, let’s reflect on your student teaching experience since it’ll be over in a week! (I know it’s crazy).
One thing that you did well this semester was to connect with your students. It will be a struggle at first and they will always drive you crazy, but they will thank you in the long run. They will push you and you will push them to do their best but the rewards will pay off, even if it doesn’t seem like it. You ARE making a difference. Another thing you did well towards the beginning of the semester was to be prepared. You had both of your units planned and copied long before they started! This is so helpful for you because it cuts your stress down and makes your lesson run smoother with the kids. They can tell you were prepared and they react better because of it.
Something you should have done differently was to think through the requirements you are asking of your students to complete on their assignments and projects. They ask all kinds of questions and thinking through what you’re actually asking them to do will help you to be able to explain it to them better and increase understanding. You also need to think through what you are asking them to know at the end and make sure you reinforce it throughout your whole lesson. You know what’s important for them to know at the end but they may not realize it’s important at the time unless you tell them.
This program gives you a LOT of information; however, most of it is useful. They are able to make their assignments useful to you and things that you can actually use in the classroom. They model effective collaborative activities that work well with students, for the most part. They set the pace that you should follow and if you do follow it (and not procrastinate), it will relieve some stress from you.
Something’s you’ll realize the program could have done better would be to vary your pre-student teaching observation schools. Only being able to observe at two schools will limit your viewpoints and make you feel comfortable there. Which in turn makes you feel “homeless” when you can’t find a job you feel like you fit into as well as you do at this school.
You also need to put in your own study time for the PLT/PRAXIS because just the classes alone wont prepare you.
Final advice: Take a deep breath. You're almost there. When you start in a few days, it will seem like the longest semester ever but I promise it will fly by.
Also, you have the best support system ever. 2013 was trouble but 2014 will show you that you are not alone and you have so many people constantly fighting for you. Cherish them! You are truly blessed.
Enjoy this fantastic learning experience,
Your future self: Lauren
