Whether you are strolling in to your Senior 2 internship counting down the days until graduation or taking a huge gulp as you stand at the front of a classroom for the very first time, you better SLAY! It's time to either remember everything you've been taught or forget all about it. There is no learning like the learning that occurs when you are teaching! Now...put your teachum' dress on, differentiate that instruction, manage that classroom, and for the love of all that is Holy, make sure your content matches your standard. If Beyonce can snatch edges, you can teach students how to multiply fractions. Maybe...
Okay, students, now let's get in FORMATION! It's time to take a look at the adventure we call student-teaching as told by Queen B herself.
1. Walking into your classroom with your teaching triad on the first day.
2. "So, Mr. Daniel, tell your students a little bit about yourself."
3. Classroom-management style?
4. "Alright, kids, let's get those brain-juices flowing!"
5. "And THAT is how you multiply fractions."
"Mr. Daniel, what is a denominator?"
6. When you called on six students and you still are not getting the answer you are looking for.
7. When you remix a math formula into a song.
8. Ten minutes for lunch.
9. Team-teaching a lesson with your mentor teacher.
10. The lightbulb moment.
11. My face...when you are talking while I am talking.
12. When a student says something really funny, but it is unprofessional to laugh.
13. "Mr. Daniel, don't you just LOVE having my son in your class?!"
14. When your phone rings and it is your co-teacher on the other line.
15. When all the female student-teachers start throwing shade because you are a male.
16. "WOW! That was a great lesson!"
17. "Did you hear about that student who..."
18. You in the front row of all of your students' chorus/orchestra concerts, baseball games, and spelling bees.
19. Woke up late...got ready in 15 minutes.
20. When your classroom starts to run like a hot mess and you honestly don't know what to do anymore.
21. Mental breakdown in the middle of the semester.
22. The pep-talk phase after the breakdown.
23. Leaving school after "one of those days."
24. When you are a very sympathetic person, but this life story at a Parent-Teacher Conference is just too much.
25. That feeling when the day runs so smoothly that you remember why this is what you want to do for the rest of your life.
In conclusion, these babies need us. So when the going gets tough, do what I do. Crank up some "Love on Top" and scream to the top of your lungs. Baby it's youuuuuu!
Teach on.
-Matt Daniel (and probably Beyonce if she actually reads this)