Apr
8
Life of a student teacher
Posted by: Natasha Chiang | April 8, 2013 | Leave a Comment
Work for a cause, not for applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt.
Being a teacher is hard work. Student teaching follows an extremely steep learning curve, and it is one that requires me to be completely humble. I enjoy the new routine, waking up early and looking forward to an early bedtime. I love being with my students at school, and I feel comfortable and completely at ease in the school environment. However, it is incredibly trying just to be responsible for many, many things all at once.
I appreciate the great feedback I am getting on my teaching, from all perspectives (my mentor, my own reflections, my student’s reactions, my colleagues’ discussions). It is just scary to be so transparent and have to make myself vulnerable to critique in order to grow the most, best.
While I am working on incorporating “Big Ideas” into my lessons, I must also focus on the big idea for me as a teacher. I want the students to love learning. I want to impart strategies that they can use to work together, as well as independently. I want to make learning meaningful for the students by facilitating discussion and exploration of real life events and objects.
Tomorrow is another day.