![]() While I was up last night thinking about what might happen today (first meeting with my clinical faculty [CF]) I got an unexpected and amusing (as always) message from one of my very favorite people, Andy. I have known Andy for many years--back in the days of Bush v. Kerry--and he is an amazing music teacher as well as an all-around great guy. The message he sent me was about an app that allows you to digitally apply a tattoo to yourself, I suppose to see what it would look like before you actually take the plunge and go get one. Having pretty strong feelings about tattoos I loved this, and we started talking about the politics behind tattoos in the workplace. Happily for me, this wound up being a pep-talk for my first day of student teaching. Andy reminded me that being a teacher is not about how you look or how you dress, it is about being a genuine person who is able to teach the content in a high-quality way. Or, as he put it, someone who brings their "it" factor to the table. This was a welcome and happy reminder that teaching is not about one particular thing, but about you, the teacher, as a whole package and what you have to offer. I was reminded that I do have a lot to bring to the table, including a belief in lifelong learning, a diverse variety of work experiences, and a lot of hard work and dedication to doing exactly this. This was what I took with me to my first meeting at Green Run High School today. My teacher, Mrs. Burnsworth, is going to be a great mentor teacher. While I was there, I met two of her former student teachers, both of whom are employed with GRHS! She was prepared to meet with me, gave me so many great resources on the content, and made me feel at ease about the big data-driven project I have coming up. My CF seems to have it all together and was happy to talk with me about the program. Everyone I met at the school so far has been upbeat and friendly, and I get the sense that the school values order but also flexibility. Another bonus: all the classes I will be covering are electives. That means no end-of-term SOLs to stress over and LOTS of room for creative instruction. There are two sections of sociology and four sections of psychology (with lunch/planning in period three both days--huzzah!). Since there aren't any state standards, my CF shared with me the pacing guides and curriculum planning materials that were developed by two teachers in VBCPS. These are the basis of what we will be covering this semester. The material sounds great, too, and not nearly as foreign as I had initially worried it might be: adolescence & adulthood, motivation & emotion, personality & intelligence, family, education, sports, and religion. Between my own personal reading interests, my work in the Student Success Center, and my classes on adolescent development and special education, I think that I am actually relatively well prepared to teach this content. Just to be safe, I asked for copies of the textbooks and curriculum materials and got all of it on handy disks. This, coupled with the books I snagged from the ODU library, should have me ready to teach the material as it comes up. I'm feeling pretty good about this. In another world, I could have been placed in an area where I have less practical training, like AP European history, or a subject that doesn't come naturally to me, like economics, or the most likely scenario, a class where the teacher and students are at their wits-end trying to prepare for the SOL tests. This placement at GRHS is going to be challenging for sure, but I believe it also promises to be a lot of fun. I can't wait to start my first day in the classroom next week, January 19, 2016!
1 Comment
Andrew Lesko
2/10/2016 03:32:44 am
Hello Erica,
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AuthorTrue stories about teaching and learning in Hampton Roads, VA Archives
May 2016
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