I began entering classrooms as a teacher with my early childhood practicum in the fall of 2007. It was in the kindergarten room at Park Place Church of God, and I was basically a teacher's assistant. Four hours a week I hung out with some little kids and I taught two pretty terrible lessons, but it allowed me to develop some comfort in the classroom as an authority.
In the spring of 2008, I started individual literacy tutoring at Forest Hills Elementary School. I had an adorable little third grade student and I learned about individual student motivation, assessment-based targeted instruction, and writing ridiculously detailed lesson plans.
In the fall of 2008, I spent two hours a week at St. Mary's School teaching a small group in a literacy program to kindergarten and first grade students. I learned about group management, the importance of enunciation with LEP students, and the stress of after-school programming and student attention. I also worked in a fifth grade classroom at Forest Hills Elementary, teaching one math lesson a week. I learned about the ridiculous nature of some curriculum and the school scheduling that can absolutely destroy a lesson plan.
In the spring of 2009, I again worked in two separate practicums. At Robinson Elementary School I worked in a kindergarten classroom with mostly ESL students, and also did some ESL push-in work. I learned about the social-work aspect of teaching, and the difficulties of navigating school politics and what is best for students. I then drove across town to Killbuck Elementary School for a practicum in a fifth grade classroom teaching Language Arts and Social Studies. For some reason, it was in this classroom that I learned to own a room and manage students and be an effective teacher. Those lesson plans ROCKED.
When I started my student teaching placement at Jahn Elementary School in the fall of 2009, I was terrified. It was a first grade classroom filled with babies that I was afraid of, and it took me four months to navigate the stresses of teaching full time and being a student in my other full time, and be an effective teacher at the same time. After the winter break in the 2009-2010 school year, I started my fourth/fifth grade split placement at Jahn Elementary School. By this time I was familiar with the school and the culture I was working in, and looking forward to creating new and engaging lesson plans with older students. Instead I was met with the frustrating system of high-stakes testing that left my 9 year old kids in tears, and left me as a glorified proctor without anything to teach. After the ISAT was over I was finally able to teach, and my two major units brought me confidence in my ability to manage a classroom and develop a plan and execute a unit that students can learn from. I walked away from my student teaching with the ability to teach.
My next classroom was Romania... I had 21 of them. It was at the same time overwhelming, exhilarating, exhausting, amazing, frustrating and empowering. I am absolutely sure that spending a year teaching in that environment brought me classroom management skills that could not have been acquired in this country. Do you know how difficult it is to keep 11 classes of non-English speakers engaged and learning for 40 minute sessions each week? Do you know how hard it is to manage a classroom of 42 students who are developmentally conditioned to resist authority anyway? Do you know how hard it is to motivate eighth grade students who see no reason to learn what you have to teach them? I know all of those things, and I walked away from that opportunity with a handful of new skills and a huge amount of experience and a confidence in my ability to do anything because I did THAT.
And so when I walked into my classroom six days ago, I owned it. I have a lot of work to do, but it is incredibly encouraging and validating to feel perfectly comfortable with my students and my responsibilities. Here are some pictures of my classroom:
cool classroom :) you go girl! rock their worlds!
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