Step 8: Run fast, run far, run Philly!

Have I mentioned recently how much I love Philly? Nothing has affirmed my excitement about this great city as much as my experience this weekend at the Philadelphia Marathon. As I ran through the streets with 30,000 other runners in front of crowds at least double that size, my warm feelings toward this city swelled. From the Mayor’s send-off high fives, to the residents handing out tissues outside their homes, to the spectators who remained at the finish line even as slow-pokes like me rolled in many hours later, I witnessed the community commitment of the people of this city. Additionally, the route took us through the fascinating mix of landscapes that Philadelphia contains: over the course of 26.2 miles we passed grand museums; modern office buildings; historic monuments; prestigious universities; diverse neighborhoods; and more. In fact, throughout my training I have loved the opportunity that running has allowed for getting to know this new home. Philadelphia is remarkably approachable by foot, and I love that I now have a sense of how the remarkably different neighborhood landscapes fit together.

As Thanksgiving draws near, I also want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for the new people in my life who are making this year not only useful to my future career, but also fun! In fact, among those wonderful runners and spectators were several of my TEP classmates! Despite the cold weather and lengthy time commitment, they came out with bright signs and warm smiles to get me and the other runners through the race. Despite the countless hours that we spend together at the GSE building, our cohort also chooses to do things together outside the classroom and I feel so lucky to be developing these relationships with future colleagues and friends!

Step 7: A week in the life

Over the course of the past week, I have had the pleasure of speaking with a few prospective students during GSE's open house and webchat (more of each of theses sessions to come, so keep an eye on http://www.gse.upenn.edu/admissions_financial to learn more about these events). These conversations have reminded me of how difficult it was to imagine what my day-to-day life in this program would look like: What would my schedule be like? Would I feel more like a student or a teacher? Would it feel like college, or like holding a job? So today I'm going to give you a taste of my weekly schedule in case these are questions on your mind, too.

As suggested above, my weekdays are generally pretty booked from around 8am until 7pm (Thursday is the only night when class gets out later than that); however, I have managed to find approximately 10 hours during the week to work at an on-campus work-study job (in addition to this GA job for which I'm blogging). In terms of the schoolwork that is required outside of class time, I have found it very doable to fit it in at night and during our occasional free periods during the day. For example, I am currently sitting in the GSE computer lab typing this between classes and will soon go finish my reading for this evening's literacy class.

In terms of how I feel in this "in-between" student role, it certainly is different than college. Instead, my courses feel more like professional development - the best ones, in my opinion, are those during which we call upon our own experiences in the classroom to understand a concept taught in class, and vice versa. Most of our assignments also require that we draw on student-teaching experiences rather than document-based research (as explained in previous posts on the integrated assignments for Term II and Term III). Therefore, these don't really feel like the papers that I wrote as an undergrad (and best of all, we have no tests!). Like college, however, I do consistently have work that I could/should be doing even after the "work day" is over - there is always more to read, write, or plan. I guess that's something that won't be likely to change as a teacher, though, so why not get back into the habit of it now?!

Step 6: A Community of Professionals

As I indicated in a previous post, one thing that is very important to me as a pre-service teacher is to feel as though I’m training to join a community of professionals. Without going too far into my rant on this topic, I believe that, in general, far too little credit is given to teachers in this country and it a goal of mine to elevate the teaching profession toward the status that it deserves. I feel very fortunate to be studying at a school whose Dean is a leader in this discussion on an international stage, and I am lucky to be surrounded by many who see teaching as truly intellectual work. 

In addition to those like-minded individuals I have found here in GSE, I am also excited for the opportunities I have to feel like part of a larger network of teaching professionals. Within the last week I was able to attend both a meeting of one of Philadelphia’s wonderful teacher networks (the Philadelphia Teachers’ Learning Cooperative) as well as the National Science Teachers’ Association area conference. In both of these situations I found my pen could hardly keep up with the suggestions and observations I wanted to be sure not to forget and I was humbled by the commitment these long-term teachers have to both improving their own practice, as well as supporting others’ development. The tremendous degree of the collaboration, resource sharing, and overall enthusiasm of other educators was inspiring, and I am proud to be joining their ranks.  

NSTA Conference Exhibit Hall Butterflies

Step 5: Planning Ahead

As I mentioned previously, our year in the Teacher Education Program is divided into five terms, each with a different focus. While we previously focused on the neighborhoods in which we teach (Term I) and the children in our classrooms (Term II), in Term III we shift our focus to pedagogy. This term we will be planning, teaching, and analyzing lessons in each of the subject areas we study (math, literacy, social studies and science). In preparation for these lessons, we are currently discussing the components of a quality lesson plan. The template that we use reflects the values of this program - a good lesson is not just based on the content it includes, but also its reflection of the context it is taught within, and the students to whom it is geared. For example, long before listing the activities we plan to use, we must reflect on the background knowledge that our students might bring to the lesson as well as the questions or challenges they might find in it.

I will admit that the idea of planning out lessons like this that will fill not just one hour of class but a full day, for approximately 180 days in a year is still incredibly daunting to me. However, my professors are doing a good job breaking this preliminary task down into manageable pieces, and they are also being realistic about the fact that as teachers in the future, we may not write such detailed plans for everything we teach. However, the considerations included in this template can guide our actions in the future.

I do not know yet what exactly I'll be teaching for my lessons this term - but I'll keep you posted!