Thanks to Facebook memories, I was reintroduced to my first literacy blog I created for a grad school assignment. I am going to be reposting my old posts here. They are a reminder of why I became a teacher. They are a reminder of how I developed my teaching style. They are a reminder of my pedagogical philosophy. Many of the posts I have reread, still ring true to me and are embedded in my daily practice as a teacher.
Originally Posted on "I'm Making Readers & Writers For Life," December 7, 2012.
And so begins the trials and tribulations of student teaching. I may be exhausted, but I will reflect here....
A little late, but one from my first placement.
How do you know it is right? You just do. Actually you don’t, but from each experience with my practicum and student teaching, I know that this is the right decision. When I left my job at a fashion company, did I cry like a baby as I took the cross town bus back to my apartment? No. Did my eyes look like water buckets (they came up with that simile not me!) today around 3:55? Yes. These past 7 weeks have been such a wonderful experience. Each day I was happy to wake up and each afternoon I left the parking lot with a smile on my face. Even days when the students are misbehaving or I feel the pressure of the TPA, it still feels right. That towel will not be thrown in.
I by no means am a great teacher, but I know one day I will reach that summit. Just like my for my students, I set high expectations with the ideas they can be met. I know that I will one day meet them. I have filled my tool belt with so many great resources from teaching these past few months. The strategies will carry me through teaching. I cannot wait to implement them in my own classroom, hopefully 5th grade.
I know this experience will stay with me. How could it now? The students were so great. They made my job so easy. Yes, there were days where they could not exactly settle down from the excitement. Yes, there were lessons that met blank stares. Yes, there was subject matter I had no interest in teaching. Set that aside, I loved every moment of it. It all felt right, so right. I am so grateful to have figured this out, or I would be sitting at my dead end job looking out on the Hudson adding a zebra tag to a boring crew-neck sweater.