Confessions of a Pre-student Teacher: “Day One” of Each Semester
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Me
Core 1:
I am superwoman! -Bound to save the minds of America’s youth from
illiteracy and bad fiction!
You are skeptical. I watch as you slouch, uninterested in your
plastic pen at the back of the room. With squinting eyes, you steal darting
glances as you decide how to eat me.
Core 2:
I am now acutely aware of the responsibility that I owe to you, and I
am intimidated.
You do not look impressed. You are quiet and never raise your hand.
When you do, it’s always a hard question that I don’t know how to answer.
Core 3:
I am learning! I am excited to see you every day and look forward to
the new things that we will learn together.
You are inquisitive. You raise your hand more now and you smile and
laugh with me as we talk about your reading experience.
I feel accepted, valid, and needed. You come to me as much or more than
you do others when you need help and clarification. I am beginning to learn my
role in your life as a student and as a person.
You sometimes ask for help with things that you should be able to do on
your own. I am learning to support and encourage you (without giving you all of
the answers). This is because I care. It is not because I do not care. You are
important to me and I want to help you grow.
You are growing, and I am so proud of you! I knew you could do it and now you do too!
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You
Core 1:
You are an imposter! You walk like a teacher and look like a teacher,
but you speak like a student.
You are looking right at me, and I wonder if you are an administrator
or maybe a social worker; we have so many. I try to read the name tag that is
dangling from your shirt, but the print is too small.
Core 2:
You fumble with words as you attempt to answer my questions and
explain an assignment.
I am worried. School is hard enough for me, and now I am beginning to
wonder if you know what you are doing.
Core 3:
You are laughing and conversational. You eagerly listen to me
describe how I felt about the reading assignment and freely respond to me.
I am interested. I know that you are learning but that you can help
too. I am starting to enjoy working together on new things.
You are nice. Are you my friend or my teacher? Maybe you are too nice,
but that’s okay because you are helping me learn and I’m actually having fun too.
Maybe this year won’t be so bad after all.
Sometimes you are not as nice as I thought. I was beginning to think that
you were on my side, but you are starting to seem like all of my other teachers.
I’m not sure if this is okay or not. I’ll let you know.
I am doing it; all of it--And because of that, I am proud of me! I am
growing!
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Megan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your genre reflection! You were able to capture not just your experience, but all of ours with student teaching in an interesting way. I really enjoyed listening to you read your work and reading it. I also enjoy how you go back and forth between you and the students. You were able to get the feelings of how we, as student teachers, feel and what could be going through students' minds. Thank you again for your reflection!
Sheila
Megan,
ReplyDeleteI found your comparisons disturbingly accurate, humorous, clever, and moving. Your use of perspective was refreshing. It is so easy to forget how our students see us and the questions and concerns we raise in their minds. You did an excellent job making the student thoughts seem realistic. I was especially touched when you got to Core III and the optimism and progression illustrated there. Thank you for giving insight into the student perspective of our experiences, and for reminding me to consider their point of view in my classroom interactions. Loved this piece!
Yours,
Krystal
It was an absolute joy to experience your genre reflection again Megan! As mentioned during our workshop, I loved your piece but was slightly confused on the people interacting. Yet, you've modified the dialogue to sound so much more cohesive and comprehensible. More importantly, your progress is inspirational. There was so much to relate to in each single core experience and I'm thrilled to know that others are still in the process of making mistakes and learning from them as well. Thank you so much for sharing and I'm excited for the next installment!
ReplyDeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteI liked the specific evidence that your genre reflection shows about the trials of becoming a teacher while leading a busy life. This reminded me of the discussion we had about Ovid concerning metamorphoses. The core program almost mirrors some of the concepts in Ovid's text. Perhaps we should make a chart with some of Ovid's characters and their counterparts at WSU? All joking aside, I liked the idea of your chart and how it allows you to define yourself and who you are right now. Thanks for a great post. David