This is my first post of the new year - of the new decade. Perhaps it may be my last - at least for awhile. In a few short weeks, I'll be student teaching at a local high school and to say that I'm freaking out about it would be an understatement--a grossly understated statement.I thought I would be proactive and resourceful by reading up on "student teaching advice" on the internet. While many of the websites and advice offered are quite helpful and insightful (and some even lame and "duh - that's just common sense!"), reading about "the top ten mistakes of student teachers" and "how to minimize the truckloads of paperwork on your desk" and "how to get to school on time after completing 27 tasks" and "how to enjoy student teaching despite the stress and craziness of it all" may not be mitigating the stress level. In fact, I think my stress level has gone UP as a result of trying to prepare myself.
Anyway, I thought I would share my fears of this upcoming semester with you all (not listed in any particular order):
1) I'll forget all my math (and worse yet, I'll teach incorrect math)
2) I'll walk into the classroom on Day One and be laughed right out of there by the students
3) my master teachers will secretly talk behind my back and say how horrible I am
4) I'll look schlumpy and not professional at all
5) the students will have no respect for me and be on their worst behavior
6) I'll have to duck flying desks, books, and other projectiles thrown my way
7) I won't even make it to the President's Day holiday (um, that's like two weeks after I start teaching)
8) I'll need to go to the bathroom more often than I have time to go
9) the principal will stop by on my worst day of teaching and observe me
10) my kids and husband will forget who I am
11) I won't have any boundaries (or bad priorities) and bring trunkloads of work home each day
12) I'll fail and have to do student teaching all over again
Well as many of you are making your New Year's resolutions (or have already given up on them), I think my lofty goal of staying alive and maintaining balance is all that I can hope for at the moment.
Hopefully, I'll be able to post some updates of this adventure before June 2010!
2 comments:
Ah, Dee, never fear! You are going to be an amazing student teacher and then an even better teacher teacher! Everyone understands that a student teacher isn't going to be perfect...but that's part of the fun of teaching...always getting to improve. You are in good hands! Try to have some fun with it...teaching high school is a blast! :)
Thanks for the encouragement. I keep having to remind myself that if everything went well and lesson plans were perfectly executed and students understood everything, there would be no room for improvement. But then I read comments like "there will be days when you will cry" and "be sure to eat right and exercise and take care of yourself throughout this process" and then I freak out all over again (I should stop saying that - don't want it to be a self-fufilling prophecy).
Okay - keep reminding me that I should try to have some fun and that high school is a blast. I'll try to remember...
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