Last Week

Our last week flew by! This week felt very productive as well and the students were bursting with energy! We tried to finish up a lot of our little side projects for our co-teacher this week and we succeeded in getting the majority done. One thing I noticed this week is that the students who really fall behind and don’t understand the lessons are the same students who do not pay attention. I thought this was a fitting correlation, only I didn’t know how much of a difference it makes. Students really need to be on their game and paying attention (most do). Also, some of the attention problems we see have to do with lack of motivation as well. So my co-teacher and us are constantly trying to “light the fire” in some specific students.

            This week we taught a math lesson, surprisingly! Our students who receive higher instruction’s teacher was out for the day and so my teacher decided to teach them instead, and have us teach the lower/average student’s math lesson. We literally found out about 30 seconds before! That made me nervous, but thankfully the lesson was an extension of the previous day’s lesson and so the students all caught on and did great on their homework! I was surprised by how well they listened when they were actively learning. It was a nice experience!

            I’ve noticed that many of our “trouble” students have matured these past five weeks. They stopped trying to cause problems and they seem to respect each other more. My co-teacher believes they are maturing more and that’s why they have become more kind and respectful. I really appreciate these students. They have taught me way more than they would even guess! Being in a classroom and experiencing my future career directly like this is a great honor. Not everyone has the privilege of job shadowing for such a great length of time.

            Lastly, our last day, today, was very emotional for us and the students. Many of our “trouble” students began crying! I realize now that these are the students who need us the most. Our co-teacher had the class sit in a circle and each shared one thing they appreciated about us student teachers being there. This was so inspirational and endearing. Many said they were going to miss us and that they will “hold the memories in their brains.” A lot of them thanked us for being there every day and helping out when they weren’t understanding something. One student who really falls behind, thanked me specifically, for helping him on his math so that he could learn it. Each of their comments meant so much to me and I will always remember them! At the end, our co-teacher gave us a card that they had all secretly signed during the week and wrote a message in. She also gave us a future classroom item of a wooden hall pass. I am going to miss them all so much! They were the best teacher and class I could have asked for, especially with the many challenges as I have learned so much.