Fewer Follies

Ahh. A moment to breath. As Clinical Practice II has progressed I have begun (as all student teachers do) to experience a whole new world. One of sleepless nights, surreal days, and looming deadlines; the life of a teacher (or something like it).

            “Can I go to the bathroom?”, “How many points is this worth?”, ”I wasn’t here last week, what did I miss?”, ”Are you serious?”

            As I transition from Student to Teacher I find myself with more questions than answers à questions from my students and questions from myself. I’ve embraced our programs emphasis on “The Reflective Practitioner”, as skills that “just come with time” can be greatly improved through brief sessions of honesty.

            Today I am happy to claim that I have witnessed myself (through self-progress monitoring) achieve more of my academic teaching goals. Many lessons still end with me obsessing over those things that didn’t work out as well, but I’ve learned to make a note of them, move on to the next task, and revisit the downs and ups at the end of the day.

            2 of the skills I have found to be the most important for me to focus on were some of my least favorite before this semester. Being able to juggle a multitude of tasks and getting students to follow directions were never abilities I gave much thought. However, now that I’ve been teaching a nearly full class schedule, I analyze and refine the ways that I create and separate information throughout notebooks, on computers, and in my head. Likewise, I spend much of my time trying to say and pace student directions in a way that will steer them in the right direction and away from my repetitive reiterations.