The One You've Been Waiting For

For all four of you who read my blog regularly, I have finally found some time to sit and tell you about what I've been consumed with for the last month, every day from 7:30 to 3:00. Student teaching. It is wonderful and embarrassing and exhilarating and frightening all at the same time.

My cooperating teacher is awesome. He is patient and understanding and helpful and creative. I love to watch him teach and then I try to copy all his techniques. He is a fantastic teacher and his students love him.

The junior high kids are a treat. And a nightmare at the same time. Some of them are jewels. They come in quietly, sit quietly, have their homework completed, answer correctly when I ask them questions, and then leave quietly. This is only a select few, however. Most of them are loud, rowdy, and obnoxious. And they are constantly testing me to find out where my limits are. I don't even know where my limits are. I can't remember anything about what I learned in Classroom Management. I'm scared to death of sending someone out in the hall and being met with defiance. Luckily this has not happened yet.

I have been almost stampeded to death three times.

The kids come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Some of them are three feet tall, and others are seven feet tall. I cannot get over the huge disparity between the maturity level of the 7th graders and the 9th graders. 7th graders like to make weird noises with their mouths and put their feet up on other students' desks. I don't get it.

The students are most attentive when I tell them personal stories. So I have resorted to racking my brain every night and trying to come up with hilarious anecdotes that can somehow tie into my lesson. They also love when I drop things or forget what I'm talking about or trip over the cord of the overhead projector.

Because my voice must be at a higher pitch and decibel level for most of the day every day, I have a sore throat and a hoarse voice. I think I need to invest in a megaphone.

I have been team-teaching for two weeks now, and on February 2nd, Groundhog Day, I take over the classroom. Total domination. I am feeling apprehensive and underprepared, but I'm also excited to take on the challenge of capturing kids' interest for 80 minutes at a time.

I am now slipping words like "Bonjour classe" and "S'il vous plait" and "Ca va?" and "Oui" into my normal conversations. I was working at the BYU Bowling Alley last night and a guy came up and asked me if we had any open lanes. I started to respond with "Oui, et combien de personnes avez-vous dans votre groupe ce soir?" before I realized who I was talking to. Embarrassingly enough, this happens now on a regular basis.

I'm always amazed to see that when I teach, the students actually do learn. I present a new grammar topic, and then we do lots of practice, and then they can do it for themselves. I try to make it fun and interesting and something they can connect to. Facilitating learning is an incredible process to be a part of. Teaching is a frustrating at times, but it's so rewarding to see that students' knowledge has been expanded.

I guess that's all I have to say about student teaching for now. I'm having a fun time learning the kids' names and who they are. I'm being stretched in ways I never thought I would and I think and hope it's making me a better person. Certainly it's making me more patient. I'm happy to report I haven't thrown any erasers at any heads yet.