Passed My Student Teaching

This last week was very stressful! I was teaching, preparing my teaching portfolio, and getting my final evaluation. Plus I had a meeting to attend with my colleagues from the College of Education.

My teaching went really well. My students learned about President Nixon. I introduced my students to the Dialectic Journal (http://bla.stisd.net/MH_dialectical_journal.pdf). Some of them did a wonderful job and filled several pages with notes and responses. Others did the very minimum, and others refused to fill in the response side. I explained that responding was a way to strech your thinking ability and remember the information better, but they did not understand how this might help them. I also had students create a storyboard (http://accad.osu.edu/womenandtech/Storyboard%20Resource) using six events from Nixon's life. Some of my students went way beyond my expectations with this, and I feel like most of my students enjoyed making and sharing these with their classmates. I hope the visuals will help them remember Nixon's presidency too.

My portfolio was a lot of work. I think I did a pretty good job, but my mind was so overwhelmed that I didn't spend as much time on my reflections as I'd hoped. I will add to those once it is returned and sooner if my supervisor requests it. I did include some great examples of my students' work. It was wonderful too see everything I've accomplished through teaching, and how much my students really have learned from my efforts.

My final evaluation was really nice. I received the top score in almost every category. The categories that I scored one less in where things that teachers continue to develop through experience, so I did wonderfully. Plus I got some really great comments about how impressed everyone was with my dedication and hard work especially with two small children at home. It felt really good that someone recognized that because I've had to work so much harder than others to get here.

The meeting with my colleagues was all about job searching and interview questions. I am nervous about getting a job, but I feel like I am on a journey headed to where I am meant to be. I really feel pretty calm about this, and I just know that things are going to work out. So I am officially done with student teaching in 1 week, and it has been an amazing experience. I am staying at my school for 4 more weeks though, because I've really connected with my students and I want to see them off to high school.