Observing at Harrison

Since I have to do journals (whatever that entails) for my student teaching experience, I thought I might get this blog back up and running and do it here. Perhaps this will reach through the ethos and some kindly teachers will give me sage words of advice.

Or maybe two people will read it. I don't know.

I've been placed at Harrison High School, which is 50 miles away. Its a bit of a drive, but I think I can manage. A lot of my classmates are in town, but I really think that this placement is going to suit me well. I think it may be outstanding.

Harrison is a small school. The freshman and sophomore classes have five students each. There's one English teacher, whom I will be teaching with. While some of my friends have seventh graders at Belgrade Middle or sophomores at Bozeman High, I will be getting everything. I think this will be a great experience. I'll lesson plan for different classes, teach each grade and ability level, and get a lot out of it. There's talk of me helping out with their media production a bit, which I'm excited about. I did just write a capstone research paper on that topic!

The staff that I met were very welcoming. This started with the cook who asked if I needed assistance. I didn't know what the roads would be like, so I ended up arriving at school a good hour before classes started. I met with some of the front office staff, my mentor teacher (of course) and a few of the high school staff. All were kind and welcoming, and I look forward to working with them.

I did not get to talk to the students very much today, but they seemed like a great bunch and I think they'll be receptive to me coming in. I hope so anyways. The classes I observed seemed energetic and engaged, so I'm excited about going into that situation as well.

I have a plan for the next semester. I'll go back to the school on January 6 and go from there. Two weeks in, I should be ready to start with the Freshman and then add to my workload from there. It is sure to be a busy 14 weeks, one that will be long and yet somehow over before it started as well.

My mentor teacher has said I'll have free reign in teaching, which may be I get to realize my lifelong dream (slight sarcasm) of teaching "Animal Farm". I do get to teach the Odyssey, which I am excited about. When I get the Juniors, I'll be doing a research unit. Since I'm a research geek, I'm ready to go on that front. Since there is one English teacher, I'll do it all: lit, writing, grammar, the whole shebang. I know it will be challenging, but it's a challenge that I'm excited to undertake.

As I drove home today, I felt a bit calmer about going in to the situation. I know I don't have all the answers, and will undoubtedly make mistakes in this 14 weeks. But, I also feel confident to work with the students and help them along their English careers.

I notice that when I talk about not just student teaching, but my future career as well, that I use the word "fun" a lot. "It would be fun to do this..." for example. This isn't to suggest that I take it lightly. Rather, I truly believe that learning should be fun. I think I should have fun teaching. I know it's hard work, I know it will be at times frustrating work, but I also think it's going to be a lot of fun too.

I can't wait for January 6.