First of all, I haven't blogged in a long time, so I'm going to being putting up several posts to explain my first week of student teaching so that there isn't just one huge post. Having said that...week one of my student teaching is done! I have already learned SO much. I have done a lot more teaching than I initially thought I'd do the first week, which is great, but it was totally exhausting! My mentor teacher (whom I will refer to as Mrs. S from now on) is so amazing. She is an awesome teacher, incredibly supportive of me, pushes me to work hard, gives me honest feedback (which is so important!) and she loves Disney. I mean, how is it not fate that she is my mentor?? It's positively providential!
Days one and two were full of very long meetings and don't really warrant their own posts. They were days full of important information, but with the exhaustion from our cross-country trek and the time change that came along with it, I was trying VERY hard not to fall asleep during those oh so informative meetings.
Day three was Wednesday, the first day of school with students. I was nervous...but excited. I guess if I was Troy Bolton I might have tried singing a song about it, but I refrained. If you don't understand that reference, please watch this, because it is HILARIOUS! You should know that on Tuesday as I was leaving Mrs. S told me to plan on teaching at least 6th hour the next day. I was in a total panic, I figured my first week would be observing and taking notes, not being thrown in front of a class right away!
So, I arrived the next morning at 7:45, luckily my first hour is planning, so I had a little bit of time to be in the classroom preparing myself mentally for this, my first day of school as a semi-real teacher. I observed second and third hour and then Mrs. S said, "Are you ready? I want you to take fourth if you think you are." Honestly, I was terrified, but I had just watched her for two class periods, so I threw myself in the ring. At least, that's what it kind of felt like, I was a boxer, one against 34 opponents, with no boxing gloves.
I started out cowering in the corner, metaphorically speaking of course, constantly looking back at my coach to make sure I was doing alright. She nodded in an incredibly supportive manner and I started to feel more comfortable. By the end of the hour, I felt pretty good, like I wasn't cowering in the corner so much as just inching toward my opponent. Maybe boxing isn't really the right metaphor to use in this situation because obviously my students aren't my opponents nor would I ever actually throw punches, but I'm already this far into the blog post and I don't feel like having to put more energy into thinking of another clever way to describe my day. It will just have to suffice for today.
I sat out fifth hour to take a breather and recoup for sixth hour, which went much better. Not that fourth hour was horrible, but I had a confidence in myself that I didn't really know was even possible! I was authoritative, but not in a way that made the students hate me, I knew things were going to be fine, I had it under control and it was the most amazing feeling in the world. I had on my boxing gloves and I was ready for that scantily clad woman to come out and ring the bell and start the match. I honestly don't think I could have chosen a worse metaphor, but again, I apologize.
So, the first day of school made me realize that all of those times that I questioned whether or not I really wanted to be a teacher, all of the times I feared I had chosen the wrong major yet again, all of my doubts were COMPLETELY unwarranted. I love teaching. Once I stood in front of those students and realized I was going to be able to change their lives, every one of the questions, doubts, and fears were so far away that I couldn't even see them anymore. I know this is where I'm supposed to be, and Heavenly Father put me here for a specific reason. The Mesa High motto is Carry On. I'm going to face a lot of challenges this semester, but all I have to remember is that I'm a Jackrabbit and that I just have to Carry On. I've been working 6 years to get here and I'm ready. So, from now on all of my blog posts will end with...
Carry On.
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