Day #2

Sorry, I couldn't think of a more clever title...I mean, I know I gave you a few clever titles just a few days ago on my blog, but I'm sort of holding onto those ideas for when I can't think of anything else to write about....and right now, I have a totally new writing idea.

First of all, I'm posting during school hours. How is this possible you are wondering? Ahhh... such is the beauty of the student teacher. She is teaching, and I am blogging. I do have stuff to do, which I'm sure is no big surprise for any of you who know teaching. Even if you aren't teaching there are a hundred things to do. Right now I have nine things on my To-Do list that I'm choosing to ignore....

Anyway, that's besides the point....back to what I was saying- the beauty of a student teacher is that they have to do two full weeks of complete take over. That means they are in charge of everything. From what the students do in the morning, to small group instruction in reading workshop, to conferencing in writing workshop, to math lessons, homework assignments, copying.....everything. The only thing she isn't doing right now is dealing with parents, or preparing for conferences or report cards.....It's a nice little "break" for me. And an opportunity for me to do extra stuff, stuff that you try to cram in in between the ten thousand things you do while teaching a group of 25 third graders.

The flip side of this is, of course, that I am me. I write the following knowing full well that the curse of every teacher I know is that we are control freaks. We do things a certain way and we like things a certain way and in our little world, we control things as much as we can. It is VERY hard to let that all go. My student teacher this year, unlike in the last two years, is really quite good. She's organized and planned. She gets the kids and clearly adores them. She's kind and caring and hard working and, best of all, she is willing to listen and learn. In short, she's going to be a great teacher.

But she's not me. I'm listening to the things she is saying and watching the things she is doing and more and more I. Want. My. Class. Back. It is really quite difficult to be a teacher, and not be teaching. These are MY kids. This is MY class. I don't like feeling disconnected. I don't like missing out on what they are learning and saying and doing. I also don't like that my kids are getting away with things that I wouldn't let them get away with. Getting up in the middle of a mini-lesson for example. Talking in line before walking out the door. Keeping their cubbies so disorganized it's impossible to slip even a piece of paper in. These are little things, I know, and I know she is learning....and yes, I have talked to her about it. The thing about teaching though, is that it is A LOT of work. And, honestly, four student teachers later, I can tell you that it takes a veteran teacher to be able to do those small detail things and deal with everything that is thrown at you in a day. I know my standards and expectations are high. I recognize that. But even though I can rationalize it, well, it doesn't mean that I don't want my students back, or my classroom back, any less.
Five more days until they are mine.....then you'll be reading a post about how much WORK it is to be a teacher, and how, when you have a student teacher, you forget how much work it really is.....