Step 3: Student Teaching

I recently went home to California for a (too short) weekend visit, and while I was there I found myself answering the question, “How’s your program going?” very frequently. In reflecting on this, I noticed that I spoke with the most excitement about my student teaching placement, yet I have not told you, my blog readers, much if at all about this wonderful part of my life right now. So here goes…

This fall I have the pleasure of student teaching in a Philadelphia public school first grade classroom. I get to be there two full days, as well as occasional half days, each week, and while at first I was afraid that this would not be enough time to feel as though I was really part of the class, the kids as well as my mentor teacher have really welcomed and included me such that when I’m there, I forget that I am only a part-time fixture in their classroom. My role so far has been primarily to provide support for my mentor’s instruction (floating around to answer questions during independent work, for example), however I am increasingly taking on a larger instructional role. For example, as our class contains 31 students, we try as frequently as possible to break up into small groups. When this happens, I often take my own reading or math group where we focus on the particular skills that those students need to focus on. For example, on Monday I worked with a group of students who appeared to show readiness to move from the mathematical strategy of modeling quantities and counting all of the objects in an additive equation on to a more advanced strategy of “counting on” from an original quantity to account for the addition of a new amount in order to reach the total more quickly (more on these math strategies in a later blog). I have also begun leading occasional “number talks,” a quick mental math routine, with the full class to help the students develop number fluency. In these small-group and full-class exercises I get to apply the concepts we discuss in class, and get a first-hand understanding of the ways in which teaching is much harder than it looks!

As mentioned in last week’s post, we are about to begin Term III, which will focus on pedagogy. This means my instructional work in class will ramp up to the next level, too, as we will be designing lessons to teach in each subject area. Throughout the past few months our instructors have had us start to play with designing lessons in class, and I am looking forward to developing one that I can actually try out with my kids! Remind me of this enthusiasm later when I am stressed about teaching or writing about my lesson…

Until then, I will continue to enjoy the way in which being the student teacher allows me more flexibility to spend time focusing on one student at a time, observing the teacher, and reflecting on all of our interactions.

My first bulletin board! So proud of my first grade writers!