Student Teaching

It has been quite some time since I blogged about anything. I feel like I always do the same old thing, none of it too interesting. My class this year has many of the same students I worked with last year, including my hilarious “kiddo” that I used to write about. He is still just as funny as ever. However, being in fourth grade is tough. The kids don’t find his silliness as funny and sadly, he is getting picked on a lot. I still like to listen to his ramblings about electronics, ceiling fans, and new this year-projectors.

Next semester I will be taking an academic leave of absence from my job as a special education assistant. I will be doing my student teaching! I am really excited about it :) and nervous too. I will shadow the classroom teacher for 3 to 4 days and then completely take over the class. Yikes! Once I am finished with that in May, I will have my Masters in Education and teaching license for Virginia. Very exciting for me, as I am truly ready to have a class of my own. Being an assistant can be frustrating at times. Especially because I am learning so much in my classes that I would love to be able to apply and right now I really can’t.

I will be student teaching at the school where my mom and sister-in-law work in a first grade class for eight weeks. They both teach first grade too, so there will be three Ms. Stephens at the school-all in first grade! How confusing is that for the kids?! For my second placement, I will spend eight weeks in a fourth grade class at the school where I work now (not the class I am in now though). Honestly, I am really looking forward to working in a general ed. classroom. The past two years I have worked with kids who are so low academically. At times, it can really be frustrating. I am open to teaching inclusion, however, I would love to see what kids who are on level are like too.

My best friend was in town this past week for Thanksgiving and suggested I blog about my student teaching experiences. I am sure there will be funny stories. Funny stories about all of the mistakes I make and the kiddos I will be teaching. My first day will be January 19th! Soon!