Well, I think I just barely survived the first week of student teaching! The teacher that I am working with at the christian school has an unbelievable amount of classes to teach...she not only teaches the middle school and high school, but last year, she was told that due to budget cuts, she would also be teaching all the elementary classes as well, for the same salary! It has certainly made me think hard about wanting to teach in a christian school.
The first few days of student teaching were strictly observation. I got to see my cooperating teacher teach all her lessons (this includes...middle school handbells, highschool handbells, middle school choir and high school choir, 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th grade general music classes, a fine arts class, music theory class, a voice lesson, and a select ensemble) and at the end of every day, I was exhausted. I really don't know how she does it. She told me her first year of teaching she didn't sleep very much and used to take all her work home with her until her Dad told her she needed to find another alternative (she still lives at home as she is not married) So this week, I got to run the rehearsal for the middle school choir which was fun. The kids were, for the most part, kind and respectful to me while I was teaching but of course there are always a few that try to test you. I am thankful to have this experience however, because I feel as though my knowledge and preparation of my subject is where it should be but I certainly have room to grow when it comes to learning how to respond appropriately when there are discipline issues or in simple classroom management techniques.
This morning, I got a call at 5:45AM from my cooperating teacher telling me that there would be no school today due to the snow/ice. Yes! I went back to bed and slept until 9:30AM! I think I really needed that. Next week, I will be teaching the middle school choir, music theory and middle school handbells so I have a lot of lesson plans to write and this will give me some time with which to do it.
The middle school choir is the first time I have dealt with young boys and their changing voices, so I found this cartoon very fitting. The rehearsal I led was interesting because about a third of the boys were singing somewhere in the vicinity of the right notes and the rest of them were all over the place. I thought maybe they were tone deaf but when I asked my cooperating teacher what the deal was she told me that many of their voices are changing.
4 comments:
That's funny! i never would have thought of that. I don't know where you find all these little cartoons, they are really cute. enjoy sleeping in while you still can, Bwahaha
Sounds exhausting!
I love the 2nd cartoon, it's a hoot. Yes, seriously consider all the factors of teaching in a Chr school. Sometimes it seems that the leadership will suck every bit of life out of their staff. Always asking for more. Rod & I both needed to learn how to say no, and then when we did learn that, we began to be frowned upon. Maybe it's just that you need to be careful which school you are in. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the years there, it was just the last few when leadership changed that we started getting tired of it.
I just stumbled upon your blog. I am a teacher at a Christian school, and although it is very stressful and full of challenges, I can assure you that it is totally worth every bit of it! Be encouraged and have oodles of fun in your student teaching!
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