Final Thoughts
During my last year as a student teacher I think it is
important to remember that this is only temporary. You have to remind yourself
that you will soon have a room of your own and the power and responsibility of
the students’ education rests on your shoulders. Throughout student teaching I
would get discouraged because I never felt like a real teacher. I had to get
permission from my MT to use certain tools, computers, and other resources. I
know as a teacher you still need permission from the higher ups, such as, your administration
and department head, but during student teaching it felt awkward to have to
answer to someone else day in and day out. It wasn’t like checking in with a
parole officer, and I’m sure I’m making it out to be worse than it was, but I
never felt like I was truly in charge during student teaching.
If I could do something differently during my student
teaching I probably would have entered into the transition to teaching program instead
of enrolling into the College of Education. I fully believe that the College of
Education has helped me become a better 1st year teacher by offering
me examples of best practice and insightful resources that include my professors,
academic journals, and colleagues input on how to overcome any pitfalls of
teaching, but I can’t help but wonder if the transition to teaching program
would have been better suited for me. I am a firm believer in learning through
experience and the transition to teaching program would have offered me the
opportunity to dive in and immerse myself in teaching, instead of taking it bit
by bit like I have done in the College of Education. If I entered the
transition to teaching program I could have graduated at an earlier date and
basically get paid as I learn to student teach. At the time I did not know
there was a transition to teaching program, but if I could go back I would have
definitely put a lot thought in joining the program. I am not in any way
discrediting the College of Education, I just know that as an older student
with experience in being in a classroom without MT/CT support, I would have preferred
having responsibility in my classroom immediately, as opposed to spreading out
my responsibilities over the course of four semesters.
My program has helped me the most in providing quality
professors with great knowledge of their craft, and wonderful colleagues that I
can use to bounce ideas off of. Seeing the passion and knowledge that my
professors possess has shown me that they take this profession seriously and
understand what it means to be a quality teacher. The professors I have had
during my core classes always have a handy article in mind that can help stimulate
growth and improve whatever issues we may have as student teachers. Having
professors around who are passionate about educating students and teaching
future teachers how to become future teachers of value is the greatest strength
of the education program.
During the education program I would have loved having more
time to actually lesson plan. I feel like that is going to be one of our
biggest struggles as first year teachers, and promoting more time towards that
process in Core 1 and Core 2 would be beneficial to making sure we are ready
for our time as a student teacher. I feel that a majority of the time was
invested in classroom management techniques and learning about the background
of education. I wanted more opportunities experiencing first hand how to
enhance myself as a teacher, instead of reading about which strategies work
best and which person started areas of thought concerning education.
Rant over. I still enjoyed it all.
