Dear Me,
As a student teacher, you will find days that are out of
this world, and other days where you wish you could crawl under a rock and
disappear. When you feel like disappearing under a rock, think back to those
days you felt like a rock star teacher and reflect on the things that went
well. What did you do to succeed in the classroom? How did students respond to
activities and why were the responses this way? Was it your energy? Did you
give clear expectations? Did you answer everyone’s questions fully and give
clear instruction? As you begin your next life adventure as a fully licensed
teacher, keep these questions in mind, and build on them each day.
Also remember the days that do not go so well. Why did they
not succeed? What did you do that made the lesson confusing or unsuccessful?
How can you change things around to better succeed in the future?
As you make this journey through student teaching, keep a journal
of each day and spend time reflecting on how each lesson went. Make notes of
activities that were out of this world, as well as ones that were way off base
for students. Why did these activities have such a high success rate? What
about this activity did not go as planned? By creating a daily reflection
journal, this will show you how to in cooperate these strategies into your own
classroom in the fall and help you succeed as a full time teacher.
Another big thing to remember: take notes over advice from
your CT and US. All they want is for you to succeed and make your future
students successful. Even if you have a bad day, let it go, but remember what
it teaches you. Why did things move so quickly in one hour and not another?
What can you do to fill the extra time without putting one class too far ahead
of the other?
One other thing: find a list of commonly taught high school
novels and read ALL of them! Do this over your summer vacations, your holiday
breaks, your free weekends. One day, you will have to teach these novels, and
you cannot teach something you know nothing about. You are not Jason- simply
staying one chapter ahead of students does not work for you. You need a goal in
mind when you begin teaching a unit. Planning things out day by day does not do
you or your students any good. Create a unit outline before you begin teaching
units- give yourself an end goal to keep in mind, but remember not to teach to
your test or project, whichever it may be. Create outlines and stick to them!
If you make notes to warn students about a section of a novel, TELL THE
STUDENTS! This will save you phone calls and surprises in the classroom later
in the unit.
Remember to take some time for yourself, spend it with Jason
and do something that you both enjoy. Watch Netflix, play cards, take walks in
the park. Whatever you do, do not lose sight of your love for one another.
Remember where you came from in life and how you got to where you are. Do not
dwell on the past, but remember what it taught you about life, happiness, and
love.
You will have days that seem impossible, where you want to
crawl back into bed and hide under the covers and never come out. But in the
end, everything is worth the struggles! You will accomplish this dream that you
have held since being a sophomore in high school. You will succeed in life and
your students will go on to do great things.
Finally, take time for yourself. Between wedding planning,
grading, and just spending time with Jason, remember YOU. Take an evening every
few months and read a book, work on some cross stitch, or write a short story.
Do something that you enjoy, by yourself, and relax. You will be under
tremendous stress, and it will feel as though you do not have any time to
actually do this, but do it anyway. You need to relax and to spend time with
yourself. You need to find a time to let everything out and to focus on YOU. Nothing
will go well if you do not take care of yourself, so make it a priority.
Breathe. Relax. You will do this. You are almost there, and
everything will work out great.
Sincerely,
Stephanie
