![]() Things are finally beginning to make some sense now. This is due in part to attending the student teacher orientation last Thursday and Friday, but also credit is due to my friends from my practicum/instructional strategies class last semester. I am starting to feel like I have access to all that information I was so desperate for the last few weeks. I had been simultaneously dreading and eagerly awaiting the orientation for weeks now. Part of me was afraid that I would get there and find I was completely alone, not knowing any fellow students or professors and generally feeling highly unprepared to teach. On the other hand, I have been more than ready to learn about exactly what I will be expected to do and how I will be evaluated, and I was correct in assuming that orientation would answer these questions for me. As it turns out, my fears were unfounded and I got most of my questions answered. Before even arriving at the building, I ran in to a friend from my practicum cohort on the crosswalk. It was such a relief to see a friendly face and to get confirmation that I am not alone, either in my feelings or in my attendance. It was even better once we made it to the event. We were given a packet full of all the information we could possibly handle in two days. Also, even more cohort people were there, and throughout the two days we all got a chance to catch up and discuss our thoughts and concerns. This is not to say that I am without my worries for the capstone of my educational program. The assignments we are expected to carry out are challenging and will require the application of all the information I have been learning and synthesizing so far. Classroom management is still a concern, just as it is for all teachers early in their career. The crash course on effective management from C.J. Butler was helpful and just being around this professor was a pick-me-up. Another big assignment I was a little bit lost on was the professional portfolio; obviously I have some idea of how to put a portfolio together, not to mention working with other college students to construct their first portfolio, but the importance and the precision required of the teacher certification program are both heavy and exacting. Dr. Sommerfeldt's engaging and creative presentation gave me so much helpful information and made the whole thing seem less daunting. Fortunately I have known about the portfolio requirement for some time and have been diligently saving everything; now it is just a matter of finessing Livetext into letting me upload everything the way I am supposed to do it. Strangely, the one project I'm told everyone fears the most is the one that I find quite compelling. This is the "impact on student learning" report. This assignment requires us as student teachers to select a generally representative class of students, give them a pretest, teach a unit, and give a post-test. In all this will mean a lot of planning and data collection and dis-aggregation...and I LOVE data! This project is really the way I would like to conduct all my units of instruction in a perfect world. Over the course of this graduate program I have come to understand and appreciate the power of data and what it can do for education. I just need to be sure I don't get too wrapped up in the meaning behind the numbers, and I should be fine. Either way, this is just the type of project for me. Again, I can't say how happy I am to be working in close association with the people I made connections with in instructional strategies last semester. We talked as a group and realized that, while we are all experiencing the same anxieties and exciting, it might not be so bad if we could share those feelings as a group for the duration. To that end, one member of our group created a fabulous Facebook group that will allow us to "...vent, cry, cheer on, and support one another." This is a great idea and I'm so glad that I have a community to go to when I have a great idea, a bout of confusion, or a terrible day. I believe this will make student teaching run more smoothly for me and will provide an important outlet when questions necessarily arise. Tomorrow morning I meet with my clinical faculty at her classroom at Green Run High School. Then next week, I have my first seminar with Dr. Clark, my university supervisor. Five of us all have the same seminar/university supervisor, so more good news there, too. I can't wait for tomorrow. It will be so nice to meet my CF and see where I'll be spending this semester. I think all my questions are on the way to be answered now.
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AuthorTrue stories about teaching and learning in Hampton Roads, VA Archives
May 2016
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