Bring on the Adventure -- Cati

When I think about starting to student teach, I feel a combination of curiosity, openness, and excitement. I am curious about both the big picture of what this will look like and the small. What will it be like to take over someone else's already established classroom? How do I initiate the many conversations that I need to have with my cooperating teacher about what tests to use, what pacing to use, what kinds of management policies to use? What will I do when students misbehave? Will the ones that misbehave when my cooperating teacher is teaching misbehave for me, too? What on earth will I wear on week 3 when my school-worthy wardrobe has run out, and will students notice if I just start again from day 1 and recycle everything from there?

I am open to what comes, in part because I know that I will never get the answers to these questions until I just "do it." I feel like this is the next part of this crazy, intriguing adventure called teaching, and it will evolve and unfold as it does. I'm feeling relaxed and open to what will come and I'm trying not to get caught up in the black hole of the unknown. So much is outside of my control! It's more fun to go in trustingly and remember that hey, I'll figure it out when I get there!

It's much more fun to look at what's exciting. I'm very excited to be at school, every day, for the full day, for ten weeks. I'm big on rhythms and this graduate program effectively precludes a rhythm to our days, as we juggle classes, observations and teaching, and in many cases jobs. I'm glad that I will get up at 5 a.m. every day, not necessarily because it will be at 5 a.m., but because it will be the same time every day. (An added benefit will be that I will show myself that I can get up at 5 a.m. every day.) I am excited to see that I can be a teacher! I look forward to the chance to continue building rapport with my students, to keep interacting with other teachers at school, and to try out ideas and practices we have learned about in classes. The long-standing divide between theory and practice is about to be overcome! That, following months of classes, is inherently exciting.