Student teaching feels so backwards when you first start. You are so used to being the one sitting in the desk listening to the teachers. You are used to being told what to do and when it is due. You show up for the test, but now I am the one making the test. I am the one telling when something has to be done. They look to me with their questions, all of their questions. It is a total reversal of everything. Instead of turning in homework I have to assign, grade and return homework. We thought being students was a lot of work but the amount of work that goes into teaching is insane! Here are six weird things I have experienced during my first two weeks of student teaching.
1. It is weird being called by your last name!
I knew this one would get me but it shocks me how much it really does. Sometimes I accidentally ignore kids because I am not used to it. My little brother has began calling me Miss Brian even at home! Now two weeks into school, I am getting used to it, but now when a student randomly calls me by my first name it is weird... It's almost like I don't know what to answer to anymore!
2. 50 minutes is a lot longer than you think it is!
My first class that I taught only lasted about 25 minutes and then I had nothing for the students to do! This is a problem because misbehavior occurs when students are not kept busy. You have to have nearly twice what you think you need. If you don't cover it all that is OK, you have tomorrow. For today, though, you will always need to have something ready for the kids to do.
3. Some kids really just don't care.
No matter what you do or what you say they do not care. They don't care about their grades or whether you give them detention. They have a plan for their future that does not involve school so what you say does not matter. You can try to get them to see that their plan may not work without schooling, but good luck.
4. Hour delays are not the same.
In high school, I absolutely loved getting delays. It was great you got to sleep in and classes were shorter so there was less work. And you didn't have to make that day up! Now although all of that is still true I'm looking at it from the other side and how am I supposed to get my lesson done in this shorter time span? How am I going to cover all of the material without falling behind on the schedule? But that extra sleep is still amazing!
5. It can be really hard to learn names.
If you are in a familiar place, you already know names at least some of them, and this can actually make it harder. I am student teaching at my alumni, so I went to school with some of these kids and a lot of their siblings and cousins. The hard part of this is I want to call my current students by their sibling's and cousin's names.
6. Being nice can backfire.
Sometimes when you are nice, the students can take advantage of you. Most of the time, I am OK on this count. One student actually told me he did not trust me because I said mean things in a really nice voice, like "Your test is Tuesday!" They did not like that much.
Student teaching is nothing like I expected to be and exactly what I expected all at the same time! I am so ready to have my very own classroom!
