Tips From A Recent Graduate!
In education, we know that December marks the smack middle of the school year. So, what does this mean for people who are graduating in December? I'm not sure how typical my situation was, but I have learned a lot from my own experiences.
Student teaching is HARD! Never let anyone tell you otherwise! There is two levels of school that you are dealing with. You are both the student as well as the teacher. Balancing your own school work, projects, and personal life is hard enough. Then you add on top of that all of the duties and responsibilities of a school teacher (8th grade in my case) and it is INSANE! Also an added bonus that my specific internship was 40+ hours a week....UNpaid! It was a lot to deal with! Being completely transparent, there were times that I would cry from being overwhelmed from all of it. BUT, if I can make it...so can you!
Stay organized!!
This is the number one tip that I have! Being honest, until this last semester of college I was the messiest person you would ever see! I did not have things in order, even my planner was a mess! This is something that is a huge no in education. Time is precious in the classroom because everyone knows we don't get enough of it! If you know anything about teaching, then you know that the first and the last five minutes of class are not yours. That typically leaves 45 minutes for each class to have instruction and to get done what you have them doing for the day! Fumbling around and looking for papers or getting things ready is wasting even more of the already short time. Also it makes you look bad to both the students and your mentor teacher.
Be Prepared!
This is another really big one I had to learn. Being prepared doesn't just mean that you have a worksheet handy for the students when they walk into the room! This means mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared as well. The biggest part of this for me was being mentally prepared. I was really bad about not going through the night before and working out the content on my own. I'm not sure how I thought teaching was as easy as just knowing how to work the problems. The best thing that I learned to do was sit down the night before my lesson and go through it like I would have taught it. I picked out different problems that showed the content I specifically needed to cover and even had a few backups just incase. I picked out what I would do myself, the notes, the guided practice, and what the students would do independently. It made the actual teaching go so much smoother! This is also the time to refresh on your content! Especially being an intern, there is SO much content that I came across that I had not done in at least a few years! It's been a while since you were in school so remember that!
Don't sweat the small stuff!
I remember a day during my final internship that I ended up SO upset because halfway through the day I realized that I had taught something wrong! I was so embarrassed and I felt TERRIBLE for teaching these kids something incorrectly! It was just one of those days that got to me and resulted in crying in the teachers lounge. Thankfully the community at my school is one of the best I have ever been a part of. A few seasoned teachers told me about the times they had mishaps and that it was all part of learning and growing in the profession. This leads me to my next point....
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