1.2.17

At 5:32 a.m., I woke up ready to tackle my first day as a real student teacher. I had worn the badge all last semester, but this was the real thing. By 6:55, I was on the road to my school and by 7:18, I was using my brand new fob to let myself into the building. I checked myself in and breezed down the fourth grade hallway as I had done many times before. However, this was different because I was a student teacher.

At 7:23, as I got to our cluster of classrooms, I noticed that everyone was sitting in the hall. One of our teachers had an emergency and had to leave. At 7:31, I was alone with my students for a few minutes as my CE went to assist the other class. At 7:34, one of our Assistant Principals came to see if I needed anything. Thirty seconds after she left, at 7:35, I was holding a student's hair as she violently threw up into a trash can. All of this occurred before the morning bell rang. 

Today has been considerably different from the days I spent here prior. Unlike last semester, this day was not a case of "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". I was prepared to tackle everything I experienced. I had never dealt with a sick student in the classroom, but it could not have gone smoother. 

I think the biggest thing I have already learned is that in teaching, you just have to roll with the punches. You might have the best plan, but it can change in a hot minute. And I think that I've been able to observe some teachers who are literally not shocked by anything unless there is reasonable cause to show concern. As I am now taking over the classroom, I would like to think that I am better equipped with the experiences I have had to roll with the punches. This connects to NCTCS 5B and 5C. I know the classroom inside and out well enough to where, if I am picking up the middle of Morning Math, I know exactly where the materials are and exactly what we are working on. I know my students well enough to know who is faking sick to cut class and who is about to violently vomit into a trash can. 

In my research, before I began this student teaching experience, this blog helped to give me a precursor of to what to expect. It hits on the following points:

1. No matter how prepared you think you are, you are unprepared.
2. Befriend the people who really matter.
3. Always have a contingency plan.
4. There will never be enough time. 
5. We think about the unthinkable.
6. It is the most rewarding job you will ever do.

I feel like teaching is 50% preparation and 50% winging it, and that is going to be one of my goals for this experience...finding a happy medium between preparation and free will. I'm excited to have this experience, and these six points are pretty much along the lines of what prior student teachers have told me of the experience. You will mess up, teaching is time consuming, and you will love every second of it.