As I near the start of long practicum, I have ambivalent feelings. On the one hand I am so excited and cannot wait to get in the classroom, and on the other I am hoping Monday might not ever come so I can live in limbo just a little bit longer. This is essentially the big moment. It’s make it or break it time (or fake it ’til you make it time). Everything I need to remember is living on various to-do lists, word docs, post-it notes, and in my over-tired brain. All of the important goals for practicum are also living somewhere in my brain too, waiting to be realized. Create meaningful relationships with my students, engage them with interesting and active learning, build critical thinking skills, plan awesome field trips, meet their parents, collaborate with other teachers, incorporate technology in a ‘real’ way, use assessment as learning… and that’s only a few. 10 weeks just doesn’t seem like it will be long enough. I keep having to remind myself that I don’t have to carry out absolutely every idea I have in this 10 weeks. Someday I will have a class of my own, and all the time in the world (hardly). For now though, it’s crunch time, and these units aren’t going to finish themselves.