Today was my cooperating teacher’s father’s funeral, so I substituted for her again. Thankfully, today was an expected absence for my cooperating teacher so everything was planned out and operated smoothly. I don’t feel like I had any major issues today and am pretty proud of my performance.
Today was the last day this week that my cooperating teacher will be here. I would say that it was a pretty standard day. There weren’t any major challenges, but there weren’t really many highlights, either.
Today, the Art I students began to carve their linoleum for the printmaking unit. This continues to scare me because I don’t trust some students with the sharp linoleum cutters. Although the students used them successfully for the eraser prints, I fear that there may be injuries with the linoleum as it is harder to cut and more difficult to work with. Even students were commenting today that the linoleum was much more difficult than they were expecting and that they were having difficulties. I noticed one student with a drop of blood on his hand, but when I questioned him about it, he said that he was fine. There were several times when I jumped at a student to stop them from cutting because their hands were directly in front of the blades and moments when I caught a student grabbing a linoleum cutter from my teacher’s desk without being instructed about how to use it with the bench hook. I’m so scared that I won’t catch someone using the tools incorrectly at some point and slip, we’ve got blood. I don’t deal well with blood myself, so I’m worried to come across it.
I believe today was a day of success. All week I’ve been nervous about today because my supervisor was coming in to observe my performance and evaluate my teaching using the Danielson Framework. I have been preparing with my cooperating teacher on what I would be instructing for the observation and even practiced during my cooperating teacher’s conference period. I feel comfortable teaching, but I don’t enjoy being watched and evaluation makes me nervous. I was especially worried as I was told that the Danielson Framework is tough and that student teachers are not expected to do much better than a 2 or 3 on a scale of 4. We would also be graded on every aspect, whether it was witnessed in the observation or not. Thankfully, I was nervous for nothing as it all seemed to go beautifully.
Today was another basic day, but for some reason the Art I classes have seemed much more rowdy than they’ve been in the past. Today during 5th Period, we especially had an issue.
Today was a return to normal as my cooperating teacher has returned for the most part. Although she will be out this Friday for her father’s funeral, she will be here all week to help organize things and get things back on track. I’m glad to have her here as I feel less flustered. When I’m on my own, simple questions like “Where’s the drawing paper?” are no longer simple. I feel that once it’s my own classroom I will be comfortable on my own, but when I’m in someone else’s classroom with someone else’s students, I don’t like to be left alone.
Today was the fourth time I substituted for my cooperating teacher. With today being my ninth day Student Teaching, I’ve substituted almost half of the time that I have been here. That’s one way to get experience as a Student Teacher!
Today was a much better day than yesterday. Today, my cooperating teacher returned to school to organize things and create new assignments for the classes that were finishing their work. Because she had left so suddenly on Tuesday, plans were made on-the-fly and I was expected to take over instantly. This day allowed us to meet up and plan the next week. We were able to figure out what will be going on and when my teacher will be absent again. Because my cooperating teacher was in attendance, this day went so much more smoothly than the previous ones. This is also because I was no longer the primary teacher and didn’t have as many responsibilities.
I feel a bit beat at the moment, but that may just be because the final Art I class of the day was incredibly rough. Today was the third day that I have substituted for my cooperating teacher. Because of a death in the family yesterday, she was out today. She expects she will be out again Friday and again some day next week.
Today was quite the day and I’ve found myself just about as tired as I was yesterday! Starting off the morning, Canyon High School staff found a Teacher Appreciation Breakfast waiting for them in the staff room. I was delighted to find breakfast tacos, pastries, fruit, juice, and other assorted goods. My cooperating teacher was especially thankful for the coffee they were offering as she’s been drinking several cups of coffee these last few days. This was a delightful start to the morning.
Today was my first Monday as I Student Teach at the high school level. Surprisingly, it was an incredibly exhausting day although it wasn’t a particularly busy one. The day began with disappointment as the AP Art students relayed to my cooperating teacher that they had not completed their homework. Not one student had taken 5 photographs that show motion, as assigned. Because of this, my cooperating teacher handed them her camera and sent them out into the halls to take the photographs, the same thing they had done Friday during class. It appears that my teacher may be a bit too lax on deadlines. It may be beneficial to stick to a deadline so that students won’t feel as if they don’t actually have to complete their homework. Perhaps accepting a participation/progress grade would also encourage students to complete their work.
Today ended my first week Student Teaching at the high school level. I’m pretty exhausted at the moment and am hoping that I will become more used to the work load as time goes on. I’ve been having difficulties adjusting to the time commitment as I’ve been coming home incredibly tired, force myself to stay awake until later, and then can’t fall asleep until late into the night only allowing me to get a few hours of sleep before waking up much earlier than I am used to. This terrible cycle has taken its toll on me, but I’m sure that I’ll be able to adjust in time.
Today was an interesting one within my Student Teaching experience at the high school level. It started off with a text from my cooperating teacher: “I have a family emergency. Requested a sub but it may be just you teaching.”
This could be quite the scare for a third-day student teacher!
Though, to be honest, I wasn’t really worried. I was worried about the pouring rain and the backed-up highway that was in a stand-still.
I needed to get to the school!