Student Teaching Experience

Well it's Friday, April 20, 2012 and my student teaching experience is officially over!  This was the best experience ever.  My CT and her assistant were great.  They were very supportive in my endeavor of becoming a certified teacher.  Whatever I needed she gave, I felt very welcomed in the class.  This was my second placement in a pre-k classroom.  My first setting was in my very own classroom where I assist kindergarten students.  I'm an Instructional Assistant at a K-8 charter school.  Now that I think about it my first placement really didn't "feel" like student teaching.  Like I stated before, this was my normal classroom, therefore I knew all the students and the classroom routine.  Student teaching in the classroom where you work, has its pros and cons.  If I had to do it over again, I would have chosen a different grade level.  But I learned from the experience and had an awesome CT, so that's all the matters.   

In case you didn't know, the Master of Arts in Education/Early Childhood Education  program is different from other Teacher Education programs.  One being is that student teaching takes place in two different settings - preschool and elementary.  Each placement is six weeks long, totaling 12 weeks.  There have been cases where students were able to remain at the same school only if the school included pre-k.  Well my school starts at kindergarten so I had to take a leave of absence for six weeks to complete student teaching in a pre-k classroom.   

Those six weeks flew by very quickly!  I'm very pleased with my growth as well as the student's growth.  My CT gave me an awesome recommendation letter that I will use in my portfolio.  Speaking of portfolio I really need to get on the ball of finalizing mine.  Although my placement is finished, I'm definitely not finished with the program.  I still have one more week to go in seminar with much work to do.  I really should have taken a week off before heading back to work, I'm exhausted!  Oh and by the way, I was offered a long term substitute position in first grade.  So when I return to work I will get my first experience of having my own classroom in an elementary setting, well at least until the next nine weeks. 

For those of you still working towards your degree, please don't give up!  Yes it's hard at times but the end reward will be so much worth it! 

My CT surprised me with a farewell breakfast and wonderful gifts.  I was so overwhelmed and cried like a baby.  I wasn't expecting this at all!