Week 17

   My final week of student teaching was a great week, though it was a sad week of course as well. I started off the week observing in second grade, which was great. I was able to observe the male teacher I observed last week who I really enjoyed watching teach as his style was much different from many of the female teachers who I had seen teach in the previous weeks. During this week I was also able to observe some of the Special Education teachers at my school as well which was a great experience. I have never been able to observe Special Education teachers in a general education setting before so the opportunity to do was great and allowed me to see what another type of really great job looks like in a normal setting.

   Throughout the rest of the week I was able to observe in some other classes such as fourth and fifth grade while also still spending some time in my own room in the afternoons, so that the students would not completely forget about me :). Friday we were able to have a bit of a party for my going away, which was really great. I was given a scrapbook, pictures, school supplies, and some other great things with my students. I was able to take pictures with each of my students which I really enjoyed and it was great to see all of them one more time. I also was able to give them each gifts, including notes that I wrote all of them which they greatly enjoyed seeing. Friday my school also needed to use me as a sub for their P.E. classes during the day so my last day of student teaching was actually filled with P.E. classes and a Skype interview for a district about thirty minutes away. So my last day of student teaching was one of my most crazy days at school, but still a great day.

    This placement was so great, I enjoyed so much each of the days and all of the students as well as the many teachers I worked with. I cannot believe that student teaching and my time at Trinity is completed, but I look forward to the future and to finally becoming a full teacher, instead of just having student or aide status!

Week 16

   So, one more week remains in student teaching, it is remarkable to me how normal and routine student teaching feels now as compared to the start of this semester. At the start of this semester, the idea of teaching all day was frightening and hard to comprehend. Now, even after full-time teaching is over it's hard to think of those times and remember how ridiculous it seemed to go all day, every day, to student teaching and to eventually be completely in charge of a classroom. Now, after I am finished with my teaching, (this week I'm just observing and assisting), it feels strange to not teach and to not be in charge of what is happening in the classroom. I suppose that is the point of student teaching though, to take students with small amounts of experience in the classroom and give them a whole load more of experience while also mimicking what having a real job will be like in the future.
   This week was a really good week of student teaching. Each morning I observed in a different classroom or a few classrooms, then, in the afternoon I taught math and literacy, so it was a nice transition out of full time teaching while also a great opportunity to see other classrooms and other styles of teaching. On Monday I was able to go to the other two third grade classrooms so that I could compare how my class did things compared to these classes. There were quite a few differences even though we teach almost exactly the same content. So it was interesting to see how these different learning styles worked and looked differently from teacher to teacher and classroom to classroom. I definitely found some things that I liked, especially some classroom management techniques, while also some things that I did not like, also classroom management techniques. One thing that I observed in each classroom relatively easily was the atmosphere of the room. One of the other third grades had a very almost stagnant and sleepy feel to it. There was almost no noise in the classroom and even though the room was the same shape as my own classroom, it felt very empty and almost dark, it was not a good feeling. The other third grade had a good feeling about it, but I still think that my classroom has the best atmosphere and the best feeling about it :). Tuesday I observed in first grade, the first time I have ever worked with first graders. This classroom was crazy, some would possibly describe it as chaos. The teacher did a good job and I think she was an effective teacher, but wow, what a morning that was. This observation helped me to decide that I don't think I will attempt to be a 1st grade teacher! Wednesday the school needed me to be a paraprofessional in the morning for one of our students with special needs because the normal para was out sick. This was an interesting experience and allowed me to see a little of what the life of a paraprofessional is like. It was fun to work with this student, but I did not like that I couldn't really help out in instruction at all as the paraprofessional, especially after I was so used to teaching all of the time.
     Thursday I observed in a second grade class and I loved it! The teacher is a man and it was great to see another man teach younger students. His classroom management style was super and definitely what I hope to emulate when I teach. It was a really great experience for me to see how he taught and how a male teacher can really thrive teaching younger students. I think that it was helpful to see how he interacted and taught students differently than many female teachers do and I really saw a lot in how he taught about respect in the classroom and a solid work ethic that I really hope to also teach to my future students, so this was definitely my favorite observation time.
    Friday I observed my own cooperating teacher and just watched more closely how she taught after not seeing her teach for a few weeks. It was interesting to see how the students reacted differently to how she taught compared to when I teach, that was something that I did not expect, but it made sense as well just based off of our different teaching styles.
   I was really pleased with this week and I look forward to the coming week where I will be able to more observing and spend a final weeks with my students. Now of course comes the tough part of student teaching as well, the job search. I have been applying for months already and have submitted probably about 40-50 job applications, if not more. I am worried in a way about not finding a job but I think that that is also a pretty normal worry for seniors about to graduate! I can't wait to start interviewing and at least making some progress in this job search!