YES! -- Beth

"Yes," such a commonplace expression, but a word I feel has described my first few days of student teaching in a way that has made me feel like "the" teacher.

Do I have a great cooperating teacher? Yes! I have to say I have the best cooperating teacher / mentor in that she is creative, integrates technology at any chance she can within the classroom, and I admire her flexibility as a teacher. At the start of my student teaching, she challenged me to take over the class I felt the least ready to take over. This class was the largest of our classes, contained the liveliest students, and was also the class I had been in the least due to my graduate course scheduling so the students did not know me as well. What did I answer to that challenge? “Yes,” of course I’ll do it! I would have to say the student teachers in our program are all “YES” people when it comes to immersing ourselves in our school experiences (just read all the other blog posts).

Probably the best thing my cooperating teacher did to get me feeling like a teacher was to leave the room. Over the past few days, I have seen a slight progression by the students as they begin to ask for my assistance instead of seeking out their regular teacher. At first the students asked for their teacher, but by Friday when we did a lab in class, the students (when they needed assistance) were calling my name. At one point, I found myself answering “yes?” to students who needed help with calculations, to students who needed help with a lab step, to a student that was absent the day before and needed help with the notes. Though every class will not be as free flowing as Friday’s lab day, I feel that the students are seeing me as their teacher. As I settle into student teaching, I find I am loving being in the school and around the students. The day flies by when I am interacting with the students and enjoying what I do. I have been in the work force previously where I watched the clock tick slowly by until I could leave. It is not like that at all now. For this, I exclaim “Yessss,” being a teacher is awesome!