When Dr. Kent said she knew we had a lot on our plate this semester, my response was that I felt like I hadn't even looked at the table. Student teaching, much more that even Internship A, is a exercise in time management. We must learn to manage the time spent in respective schools, writing lesson plans and preparation, homework for USC classes, time to eat and sleep, and -- for some of us -- work and find time for family as well. However, I have learn that in the last few weeks I have spent so much time worrying and stressing -- time that would have been more aptly used organizing and prioritizing.
I think that if my request for the 36hour request comes through somehow this will give me no more time to sleep. I have finally found a little bit of routine in my day and although this has been a bit of an overhaul than I am used to I found myself think in a physics mode again. This is a gratifing experinence for me to be thinking critically about physics and math. I would also like to take a moment and pay homage to the last legal drug in distribution, caffine. Juan Valdez, you are my hero.
It does seem like there is no time to do anything. I rush into school in the morning and try to do everything at once. I have been preparing for four classes (two different lesson plans) I am not sure I have enough time to do more than that. But will have to the second week of October. I think I have bitten off more than I can chew. It is fun to feel busy but I am sure I am making my coorperating teacher go crazy.
I agree that there is so much to do and so little time. My teacher has been wonderful. I have officially taken over the sixth grade class and it has been wonderful. In about two weeks the second nine weeks will start and it will be like the first day of school all over again. I have found that time is precious so whenever I do have free time I take advantage of it. I leave every morning at 6:50 and do not return home until at least 7:00 p.m on some days, and as late as 9:30 on others. Being the athletic trainer at a local high school in Columbia has been great, but doing my student teaching has made it challenging to get from one place to the other.
Well I still don't feel organized enough to manage my time wisely. Even with more time in a day I not sure I would feel completely ready for the classes I teach. It seems like I'm trying to stay one day and sometime one hour ahead of the students. It's been great working with my cooperating teacher. She has so much material to use and has given me the computer classes. She's one of the those people that would help anybody and that has made a big difference in my internship. I think the key though to managing this student teaching comes in preparing each day. I feel much more confident in the classroom when I have prepared than when I haven't. The challenge is finding the time to prepare.
The more entrenched I get into the classes I teach, the more I find myself staying until 5 PM(!) in order to get assignments or photocopying done! When I take on all three, I seriously don't think I will ever leave the school. Some of you have given up sleep and eating for this internship; I might just give up sunlight!
The more I stress, the worse I feel. If I just organize my tasks and take them one at a time, I feel better and I get more done. Food invariability gets pushed way down on the list. While it is appealing to be able to say I lost 10-20 lbs during my student teaching -- food has a purpose. Without food I will not be able to perform the tasks I am stressing about. My number one classroom management skill, I have discovered, is that I must eat and keep my blood sugar at a decent level. If I am the least cranky or out of sorts, my students are the first to suffer.
Sleep is another that seems to suffer, with similar results. We all know that we must sleep at some time. I have not been getting anywhere close to the amount of sleep I got last semester or during the summer, but I realized that I need to make sure I get the same amount of sleep at the same time every night. If only get five hours sleep a night, okay, then I make it midnight to five am every evening, instead of 10-3 some nights, 2-7 others, and no massive sleeping in on the weekends -- maybe an extra hour, but any longer will disrupt the sleep pattern. It is better to have 4-5 hours of GOOD sleep than 6-7 of restless sleep.
I have also discovered that I force myself to give myself a mandatory 15 minutes a day for myself and no one else. Not used to study, not for my students or coop teacher, not for my husband or pets (even my poor old beagle dying of cancer) but for myself. To relax, destress, write in my journal, whatever. I have found that this small amount of time can change my entire outlook on the day.
So to my fellow student teachers, I know we all have too much to do and no time to do it, but stressing and worrying and have sudden panic attacks won't help. Take a deep breath, relax and carry on. Every one of us will do fine.
Laura
By Kathleen Holtz (Usc_holtz) on Sunday, September 23, 2001 - 07:42 pm:
Everyday I get a little better..everyday I see a little more of my personality in my teaching..everyday I stop worrying about what my students think of me...everyday a teacher asks me where my hall pass is...everyday I know I am that much closer to being finished.
By Wednesday Anderson (Usc_anderson) on Sunday, September 30, 2001 - 11:59 am:
She is a wonderful lady and I love working with her. Yet she is very conservative. I asked her about some very low key visuals (ex. a picture of an opened condom package) and she about went crazy. She also didn't want me to say anything about the drug ecxtacy. I told her that I know middle school aged students are taking this drug. She admits that she is old fashioned when it comes to that sort of stuff and wishes to remain ignorant. Don't get me wrong. I love this woman to death and she is a great teacher. But it really is a disservice to kids if you are afraid to talk about the real health concerns of teens. I don't think it is all about her. It is the district. I had to take a video about conception to be approved by a lady that works in the district office. All it showed was sperm fertilizing an egg. She didn't approve of the video. According to the surveys they did of parents in the state, they want their kids to be educated in the very things the old fogies in the district or health committee don't want them to be educated in. I have two boys - I want them to know about condoms and other health issues. Now I know why SC is one of the highest in the nation for teenage pregnancy.
By Mary McAllister (Usc_mcallister) on Sunday, September 30, 2001 - 01:13 pm:
Just last week my teacher and I sat down to go ahead and plan the schedule for the second nine weeks. She is so organized that I am pretty much going to follow her same lesson plans, but do what I want with the plans myself. I guess I have it lucky that I do not half to create a new set of plans. My superviser is coming out tommorrow to go over my LRP and observe me teaching the sixth grade class. I have found that I am becoming more comfortable in front of the students each day, so a little of that anxiety has gone away, but I do feel the same as all of you: So much to do and so little time. See ya in class.
Mary
By John Cooper (Usc_cooper) on Thursday, October 4, 2001 - 03:15 pm:
By Andrew Higginbotham (Usc_higinbotham) on Friday, October 5, 2001 - 09:58 pm: