It's been almost two years since I last posted. I guess I just hit a creative rut. I didn't think I had anything important to say so I abandoned my blog. But something happened in the last couple of months that got my creative juices flowing...
I've had the pleasure of working with an awesome student teacher this semester. I've worked with a few student teachers in my career and a couple have shown promise and I felt confident that they would turn out to be good teachers as they moved forward. But my current student teacher demonstrates more than just promise. She's just got "it." You know what "it" is. It's that natural ability... that born-into-you teacher sense. It can't be taught. It can only be spotted and nurtured until it blossoms. That's what I see in Jackie.
My proudest moment for her was the first time, she did "the stare." You know what I'm talking about... I don't think she believed me when I said, "You can quiet them down by just looking at them a certain way." It took her a week or so before she gathered up the courage to give it a try. But then, voila... One minute the class got a little rowdy after a silly moment, the next I look up ready to intervene when I see her giving "the stare" a try. I gave a little silent "yes!" as I sat at my desk. There may or may not have been a little tear in my eye.
As a cooperating teacher, I'm no softie. I told her in the first week, that I'd be tougher on her than her college supervisor. But just like I do with my firsties, I set high expectations. In most ways, she has surpassed them. She's done a great job and I'm sad to see her wrapping things up, but I do miss doing my job and I'm ready to get back to doing the day to day stuff. Give me a week of grading and lesson planning though and I may regret typing that... (just kidding).
It's been nice to get a little break from the planning and prepping. I've used my spare time to start blog-hopping again. I've got such a mixed bag of kiddies this year. In September, they ranged from Guided Reading levels A to R. Yes, R!!! My highest reading group are M-R and really need to be challenged. Coincidentally (or not) these four are always the first to be done their math classwork. What to do to differentiate? I've been prepping to start a Math Workshop style format to my math lessons. We are going to wrap up the unit we are in this week and then I will start to establish the routines and expectations of the new format. I'm hoping this will be a fairly easy transition since I have such a small class and routines for Reading Centers have already been up and running for months. Fingers crossed!!
I have my announced observation tomorrow! Wish me luck on my first day back to teaching again!
Thanks for stopping by!
