Student Teacher

I want to give a shout-out to my student teacher, whose practicum is ending tomorrow.  She is a first-year Education student in a small university with what seems like a pretty solid program.  I have truly enjoyed having her in my classroom over the last month.  It was a perfect placement for her, as I teach both Kindergarten and Music (up to Grade 6 for the whole school), and she is interested in gaining experience in both a classroom and as a music specialist.  She has done incredibly well, understanding the complexities of the job, handling the CRAY-CRAY schedule, helping out with rehearsals for our big spring show, and taking on more than the required amount of teaching.  It has been great!  She has learned and grown so much over the last four weeks.

I have been very lucky to have worked with 4 different student teachers over the past few years, from 3 different educational institutions.  Though the programs and requirements were all quite different, I really lucked out in terms of the actual student teachers placed with me.  They have all been awesome!  This gives me a great deal of hope and optimism for the teachers of the future!  It has also made my job easier, and each student that I have worked with has been very helpful and energizing to me.  So, to you four lovely ladies, thank you.

When I was an education student (academic years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005......um.....that seems like an ETERNITY ago!) I had one ok experience and one AMAZING experience.

For my first practicum I was placed in a Grade 2 class in a Catholic School in inner city Saskatoon.  We went once a week for 12 weeks.  Our responsibilities began with observations and reflections and ended with teaching our own lessons, conducting class activities, and reflecting on how we did.  I was beyond  excited.  I wanted to be a teacher when I was 6 years old, so to say I was itching to get into the classroom would be a major understatement!

Imagine my surprise when I walked into the classroom on the first day and saw my former next door neighbour was the teacher!  I was good friends with her daughter when I was little, so that was pretty cool!  Unfortunately, her health was not the greatest and she was waiting for an opening for a surgery.  That opening came just a few weeks into my practicum.  Obviously, this was good news and very necessary for her health.  The remainder of my practicum was spent with a young, inexperienced temporary teacher who had been placed in the class while the regular teacher was on medical leave.  Not ideal, but not the end of the world.

My second practicum was AMAZING.  Seriously....I was so lucky.  I hit the practicum jackpot.  I was placed in a small town school (about a 45 minute drive from the city) in a Grade 3 classroom full time from the beginning of the school year (start of Sept.) until the Christmas break.  My partner teacher was experienced, wise, and young at heart.  She was full of life and energy and passion for the job.  I can't remember how many years she had been teaching, but it was around the two decade mark.  Her classroom buzzed with activity and excitement.  Kids were loved and respected and they knew it.

Right from the start I felt that she also respected me and allowed me to be a real part of the classroom community.  I had a voice and I was encouraged to give my input, ask questions, make comments and try as many things as I wanted.  When things did not go quite as I had planned, she never made me feel like a failure.  She patiently discussed it with me, asking me the right questions until I figured out where I could improve and what I could try differently next time.  She displayed the healthy and positive attitude of a lifelong learner...not someone who viewed herself as knowing it all or having it all figured out.  She made me feel like a teacher....not a student teacher.

So....why did I begin taking on student teachers?

I think having the correct motivation is essential.  Sadly, I think there are some teachers out there who take on a student teacher so that they can "have a break" or pass off some of their responsibilities on someone else.  This isn't really true (or shouldn't be!) and if those thoughts cross your mind, you probably should not take on a student teacher.

A few years ago I reached that point where I finally felt like I had a handle on things.  I had gone through the ups and downs of the first five years of teaching and had those moments where I wasn't sure if I could continue.  I pressed on and fell in love with teaching again.  Around that time I started to think about taking on a student teacher.  I knew how lucky I had been as a student, especially since I knew some of my classmates in university had not fared so well in their placements.  They had ended up with teachers who seemed like they did not have the right reasons in mind when they took on a student teacher, and my classmates' experiences were quite negative as a result.

I decided that I wanted to try to give students a similar experience to the wonderful one I had in my second practicum.  Not that I feel I have the same amount of experience or wisdom as my wonderful partner teacher, but I certainly do feel confident in my craft and I absolutely love what I do.

I don't see myself as an "expert" or as someone who has all the answers,  but when I come across a difficult situation as a teacher (not if, but WHEN) I know how to handle it and how to seek out the answers or resources that will help me.  I don't see myself as a "master" but I have mastered many teaching skills.  I DO see myself as passionate, creative and driven to help each of my students find success.  I want the upcoming educators who will be entering our school systems to have those same qualities - passion, creativity and drive, and ultimately I want them to really love and care for their students.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you are a teacher and you are considering taking on a student teacher;

1. You need to be willing to give them some time.

A student teacher should feel like they are able to talk things through and especially to ask questions.  This takes time.

Time when the children are gone.

Like your lunch break (if you have one....can someone tell me what that is like???).

Or after school.

While their richest learning experiences will ultimately be while they are teaching and working with students, being able to talk these experiences through with you will enrich their experience and clarify their own learning.  This is a very important part of their practicum experience.

2. You need to be willing to hand over the reigns.

This is a tough one.

I am a control freak.

There.  

I said it.

It's true and those of you who know me personally are laughing right now because you know how very very true it is.  Am I right?

(yes)

Now, you don't need to hand the reigns over all the time.  But when your student teacher is set to teach or run an activity.....back off.  Only step in if things are really out of control, or if they are signaling a silent plea for help.

Stepping in and saving them every time one tiny thing goes wrong will not help them.

They need to have the opportunity to learn and to figure things out for themselves.

3. You need to be willing to have your own teaching practice placed under the microscope.

Yeah.

That student teacher of yours will be watching you like a hawk.

Or at least they should be!

Get used to having an audience....a non-child audience (it's different).

Be prepared to be a good model, but be real.

Just do your job the same way that you always do (ie to the best of your ability) and don't try to put on some kind of show. 

I am sad that my student teacher's last day is tomorrow! It has been another great experience.  I will definitely continue to take on student teachers in the future.  It might not be for everyone, but providing great practicum experiences for today's students means stronger and better equipped teachers of tomorrow!  

Kindergarten....not for the faint of heart!

I know, I know....I shouldn't rant and rave like a crazy woman.

Right?

Well....apparently we haven't met.  My name is Mrs. Teacher.  Aside from teaching, ranting and raving is what I do.  I am rather good at it.

I have been thinking about all the times I am having a polite, casual conversation with someone I have just met and they inevitably ask me what I do.  It usually goes something like this....

"So, Mrs T....tell us, what is it that you do?"

"Well, Gertrude (or whatever), I'm a teacher."

G: "Wow!  A teacher!  That is so great!  I just really think that like, teachers are like, super important to like, society.  That is just so cool that you are a teacher!  So, like, what do you teach?"

(I'm not sure how or when Gertrude turned into a valley girl, but she did.  Get over it.)

S: "I teach Kindergarten half-time and Music half-time!"

G: "Oh.....wow....so you don't like, teach then...."

People.  I can't even tell you how many freaking times over the years I have had this kind of response from others when I answer that "what grade" or "what subject" question.  Countless times.

The other most popular response is something along the lines of "oh wow, that must be so fun!  So you just get to play and read stories and make crafts with your Kindergarten class!"

Two things;
1.)  I will save my rant on the importance of music education for another time.   This is specifically about Kindergarten.
2.)  Yes, it is so fun.  And it is so hard.  And it is stressful and busy and challenging and exhausting and heartbreaking and amazing and crazy.  Fun is only one of the things involved in being a Kindergarten teacher.

It upsets me that society has the idea that early childhood education and the primary grades are not "teaching".  They are just "fun" and "cute" and "isn't-that-nice".  To be fair, it most certainly is not everyone that shares this erroneous view, but enough in my experience that I would say it is prevalent!

Now, did you know that I have the exact same qualifications to be this nice, fun little Kindergarten teacher as a High School English teacher has?  And feel free to replace "High School English teacher" with ANY other teaching position in the public school realm.  That's right.  The same.  Oh sure, we had our focus, our specialty, our major, if you will.  But when it comes right down to it, my Bachelor of Education is what got me my Teaching Certificate, and that is what qualifies me to be a teacher of anything.  There is NOTHING stopping me from transferring into teaching any other grade, other than the simple fact that I don't want to.

Kindergarten is a child's first step into the formal education system.  They learn what it means to be a student in the Kindergarten classroom.  They learn important routines that are sometimes taken for granted later on....like listening to the teacher without constantly interrupting, following instructions and getting into a line.  Do you know how many children I have taught to write their own name?  Zip up their own coat?  Put their shoes on the right feet?  Blow their own nose?  How about the letters of the alphabet and the corresponding sounds - do you think that might be important?  How about identifying numerals and counting?  How about helping a child to get over their fear of school so that they don't scream and cry at the beginning of every single day?  I could go on and on and on and on....

The fact is, every grade, every age level is important right from Kindergarten.  To assume that the teaching of young children isn't important or isn't considered "real" teaching is incredibly ignorant.  Kindergarten and the primary grades provide an important foundation that other teacher's can build upon down the road.

And these jobs are not for the faint of heart.

How It All Started

When I was very young, before I went to school, I had a number of different career aspirations.  Most notably I wanted to be a Firewoman, a Taco Dancer (from some commercial for a Mexican restaurant??), and one of Santa's Elves.

I'm not sure if it was my new-found knowledge of the fraudulency of the whole North-Pole thing, or if it was my kind and Grandmotherly Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Tait (her name made me think of Scotch tape), but by around age 6 I knew I wanted to be a teacher.

I spent my Grade 1 year painfully shy, slightly terrified of my teacher, Mrs. Duggelby, and borderline obsessed with chalkboards, marking things with red pen, and pocket charts.  Oh yes.....the pocket charts.  I do believe I asked for both pocket charts and laminators for Christmas.  No joke.  I could picture myself having a blue pocket chart up on my bedroom wall, where I could keep track of the date, the word of the day, and other important information all neatly printed in black marker on little rectangular cards....ah....sounds great, doesn't it?

We had a chalkboard in our basement at home and I spent hours down there (and our basement was CREEPY so this is saying a lot) playing school, usually alone since my big sister wasn't interested in being the student and clearly I needed to be the teacher!  I had a few old spelling books and readers that my Dad had scrounged up from the school where he was a custodian - likely from the pile of stuff teachers were getting rid of - and I would copy things onto the board, look out at my imaginary class, and it was bliss.

I remember watching my teachers like a hawk.  I wanted to know everything about them - who they were, what they did, how they spoke, how they wrote on the chalkboard....everything.  I can still list every teacher from my Kindergarten year all the way to Grade 8.  High School is a bit trickier, but if you gave me a few minutes, I bet I could remember most of them, too.

I had brief thoughts of other career paths, but that is all they were - thoughts.  Truly, there was never any doubt.  I remember a teacher in high school, after I read something aloud in the Remembrance Day Ceremony at school ask me if I had ever considered a career in journalism.  He told me I had "the kind of charisma money can't buy".  I took it as a compliment and thought "yeah, I could go into journalism".  But would I?  No.

In University I started with general studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, obtaining all my required courses for admission into the College of Education.  I enjoyed History, Political Studies, and Literature most of all.  I thought about Politics, Psychology and Law.  But, there was never any doubt, any real option.  It was always Education.

I look back now after nearly a decade in the classroom and I love it.  It is humbling, inspiring, motivating, and rewarding.  It is busy, demanding, challenging, exhausting, stressful, like a wild maniac juggling 800 sharp knives and fiery torches at once....or something.  Mostly I just love it.

I feel like I have a lot to say and a lot more to give, beyond the four walls of my classroom.  Though I have resisted joining the blogging world for some time, I think it might be just the format I need to help me begin to sort out my thoughts and start sharing them with the world.  : )