• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

January 21, 2015 Elementary School

Student Teacher Diaries: Week One

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Lori H Rice

Lori Rice is a fourth-grade teacher at West Elementary in Wamego, Kansas, who has taught K-2 reading as well as kindergarten, first grade and fourth grade since 1996. She has a passion for creativity, learning, questioning and the whole child. Her classroom is a place of acceptance and celebrating differences.
  • Bringing Project Based Learning to our Classroom - August 12, 2018
  • Keep the Engagement Alive: Start the Year with Purpose - August 5, 2018
  • It's Our Fault: A Teacher's Confession - March 18, 2018
  • Keeping Your Teaching Real: A Teacher's Role - March 11, 2018
  • Sketch Notes in the Elementary Classroom - February 15, 2017
  • Teach From the Heart - February 9, 2017
  • Who is the Teacher: School or Family? - January 11, 2017
  • Dear President Elect Trump, From Your Teachers - November 17, 2016
  • Let them Be Children - October 21, 2016
  • Print Resources: Great Tools for Kids - October 17, 2016

Starting back to school after a break is always a mixture of emotions.  I am excited to get back into a routine and see my kids.  But I miss the lazy days of Christmas break, eating when I am hungry, using the restroom whenever I want, and snuggling on the couch reading.  This semester I have the added joy of having a student intern as I return.  It is bringing  a new mixture of emotions I did not expect. This series will give both our perspectives as we walk through the experience of working together in my classroom.

Mentor, Lori Rice:  The first day back I realized the immense responsibility I have in helping guide another person.  Lauren, my intern, showed up perky, ready to learn, and always observing.  As I went about my teaching day as usual, it quickly set in I was now responsible for providing evidence and thought to my actions.  All good teachers plan with reason, know their standards, and understand pedagogy and learning sequence.  I now have the added responsibility to voice this on demand.  Don't get me wrong.  I feel confident in what I am doing.  I plan lessons with objectives in mind and my activities are thoughtful and purposeful.  But I had not thought about the sheer number of decisions I make each day.

Education classes always want to know about the who.  Lauren has questions about race, ethnicity, gender, military families, etc. now and so I am thinking of my students on a demographic level.  After a semester with them, they are my kids.  I know their strengths and weaknesses.  I know their interests and abilities.  Sometimes to the point, I have taken this for granted and don't stop to think.  I am excited how having a teacher intern will push me as an educator and what this push will mean for my classroom.

Intern, Lauren Laudan  :There is a difference between having an opinion because you have been in a school and forming an opinion because you work in a school.  If you ever thought teaching was simply babysitting a group of kids for eight hours Monday thru Friday please come spend one day with me. Just one. I promise that is all it will take for your mind to be vastly blown.

Although I have known that teaching is a true calling, it was not until I spent 40 hours this week observing, teaching, and learning the ins and outs of what goes into the day-to-day life of a teacher that I truly saw the dedication, passion, and love teachers have for what they do.

Lori:  Having a day to plan with Lauren and my fourth-grade team was wonderful, but the official first day with kids was even better.  The students were excited to have a new teacher.  Lauren brought smiles and an energy to our classroom, reminding me of my excitement when I began this profession.  Teaching is something that begins in your heart.  I am excited to have renewal and energy in our classroom.

I was more apprehensive than I thought I would be the rest of the week.  Having a student teacher in my classroom I am hyper-aware of everything I do.  I know she is not there to judge, but I want to give her the best example possible. I want to model good teaching and questioning.  I want to be an example of time management.  I want to set her up for success and show her what quality teaching looks like.  My biggest surprise was how much we do every day.

As I taught Language Arts Wednesday, I realized the depth of knowledge we require of teachers today.  It goes beyond having a teacher's guide and answer sheet.  In the lesson, we were discussing parts of speech.  The students have mastered nouns and verbs.  Someone asked about another word in the sentence though.  It was not part of the lesson; I knew what the "correct answer" was, but it made me realize how much we need to know as teachers.  The rest of the week I began to notice how many things I do outside of the teacher manual.  Teachers are such an amazing wealth of knowledge.  We are always on, there is not a down time.  Inquiring minds want to know where and when and how and why.  We have set amazingly high expectations of our educators.

Teacher language is another thing I have become aware of this week.  In a typical conversation we have  IEP, MTSS, ELA, NSGR and the other million acronyms associated in our daily lives.  Living in the field for 20 years it is a natural part of speech.  This foreign language just further complicate all we are asking new teachers to do.

Lauren:  My first week of student teaching has been a non-stop roller coaster ride. And by non-stop I mean I honesty don't think these teachers ever sit down. When students go to specials classes, teachers are making copies, meeting about how to better meet the needs of their learners, and creating challenging and engaging lessons for the next unit. And even then you do not exactly "plan" how each day (or hour) is going to turn out. With 24 students in the class I am interning, I have noticed the needs of each child are vastly different. Whether a student needs extra attention, struggles with reading, or is exceptionally bright, each lesson must adapt to these needs. 

Throughout my college years, I would have been what they considered a "night owl". I usually stayed up until midnight doing who knows what, but surprisingly I am often very productive in the late evening hours. That, however, has changed.  It's day five of student teaching and 10 pm has become past my bedtime. I have never been so physically and emotionally drained. However, even when my alarm goes off at 6 am and it's still pitch black outside, I look forward to coming to school because these kids have opened up to me, greeted me with hugs, and count on me to be there for them. And I can't let them down. 

Follow Up:

Kids are amazing creatures.  While I am have spent the week with a million things running through my mind, trying to make sure I am delivering quality lessons and modeling strong teaching methods, they are continuing along as normal.  This is the only experience they know in this fourth-grade class.  They have adapted quickly to another teacher in the classroom.  They have already started asking Ms. Laudan for help or checking with her when they finish work.  They are learning.

Scheduling and organization are two more important things I have been teaching and modeling this week.  Lauren and I have worked out a schedule and order for the subjects to be slowly taken over.  We will start with co-teaching math and slowly add in science and social studies. My role will be to slowly step away, observe, offer feedback and provide time for reflection.  In a little over a month, I will no longer be teaching in the mornings.  While this is exciting and I am honored to watch Lauren learn, it will be a new role for me.  Today I made myself leave the room at recess so Ms. Laudan could get the students, help them fill in their agendas and dismiss them without me.  I felt a little misplaced.  It is going to be hard to let them go.

the student teacher diaries

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Student Teacher Diaries: In The Beginning Default ThumbnailStudent Teacher Diaries: The First Lesson Plan Default ThumbnailStudent Teaching Diaries: Applying the Learning Default ThumbnailStudent Teacher Diaries: Parent Teacher Conferences
« Beyond a Venn Diagram: Making Movies Work in the ELA Classroom
Eight Ways to Teach Spelling to All Learners »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • My Union Showed Up for Me, and I'll Never Forget It
  • Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here's How to Set It Up.
  • You Don't Have to Watch the Tyre Nichols Video, But Be Ready to Talk About It
  • "Let's Make This Happen": Following Student Interests to Interest-Based Mentorships

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.