Day 1: Starting as a Student Teacher

Today began my first day Student Teaching at the high school level. I was excited to meet my cooperating teacher and to begin my first-hand experience in a high school.

Thankfully, my cooperating teacher seems to be a friendly, cooperative person whom the students seem to adore. One student even calls her Mom, indicating that the student feels comfortable with her teacher and looks up to her for guidance.

The day was successful and comfortable as I found my place in my cooperating teacher’s classroom.

She gave me a spot in the classroom with a cluttered desk and chair and allowed me to move about the room and explore. She seems incredibly open with my presence in her classroom and I don’t forsee there being any tension or misunderstanding between the two of us. She even gave me permission to work on any of the projects the students were working on, to just jump in and start painting alongside them. I took up her recommendation and began creating a design for a fabric dye project that her Painting IV class was working on. It was enjoyable to sketch and draw while observing her classes. Even she was painting her own example with the class, even sitting at a student’s desk among the group of them.

Today gave me the opportunity to witness a high school from the vantage point of an instructor. This was a bit challenging as I had to adjust to the time commitments and find my place as a student teacher in another teacher’s classroom, but it also allowed me to learn from valuable experience. This was the first time I was able to experience several Special Needs students and observe how they are accommodated in the art classroom. I was surprised to find that my cooperating teacher had so many Special Needs students with almost 20 in total.

It will be a challenge as I continue to Student Teach here, but it is one I am looking forward to. I hope to learn all of my students’ names soon and to complete my example for the Painting IV class as I’ve just started the design. I also hope to present my Senior Show to the AP Art class as I showed it to my cooperating teacher when she asked about past artwork I’ve created and she thought it would be a valuable presentation for her class. I also hope to become more comfortable and confident in my position as I seem quite meek, timid, and shy at the moment. I hope to learn and grow in great quantities throughout this experience.