Student Teaching....

As I sit here in the middle of my 2nd week of my 12 week student teaching placement, I was struck with the question, are any of my fellow GC'ers currently student teaching? If so, how's it treatin ya?

For those that have already completed this semester-long indentured servitude, do you have any good horror stories that will make me laugh during the long Prep periods when I'm not doing anything? (I guess being PE has some advantages) Any words of advice for survival? What all were you from other schools required to do as part of your student teaching semester? Just some thoughts from Kitso.

Kitso
KS 361 names I have to try and learn in 6 weeks...shoot, I'm just gonna go with Cody and Hannah as standbys....

[BetteDavisEyes]

Sttudent teaching here!

I adore my Master Teacher. She's just so awesome to me & I really lucked with a great 4th grade class. We should definitely keep each other updated on how it's going.

[AUDeltaGam]

Student counselor here!- I'm getting my masters in school counseling

Even though I'm working 40hrs a week for free, I honestly love it. My supervisor is fabulous and I definitely think that being a middle school counselor is the thing for me! Not too many horror stories- I've just had to hear about students doing things that they should NOT be doing!

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by AggieSigmaNu361

KS 361 names I have to try and learn in 6 weeks...shoot, I'm just gonna go with Cody and Hannah as standbys....

I have a story: The following conversation occured when I was teaching 2nd grade.

student: Teacher, when is Christmas?
me: It's December 25th.
student: No, it's December 23rd.
me: No, JD, it's December 25th.
student: No, it's the 23rd. I know. It's the 23rd. (me thinking: If you think you know when it is, you little moron, why did you ask?)
me: (It is a Friday afternoon at 2:30. I am tired. Use your best exasperated voice as you read this.) JD, I am 32 years old. I have been around for 32 Christmases. I know that Christmas is on the 25th.
student: Oh, okay.


As for Cody and Hannah, I learned to just call all the boys 'Bubba' and all the girls "Sweetie". If they are Hispanic, 'mijo' and 'mija' work. The year I taught PE, I had a 3rd grade class that included: Kelsey, Casey, Kelly, Kenny, Kylie, Kayley, and Cody. Bubba and Sweetie worked just fine.

[AlphaFrog]

When our family friend was doing her student teaching, she had a little boy come pull on her skirt and tell her "You're pretty - you should take off your clothes for money like my mommy does".

In the same class, they were having a fire drill, and one of the little boys informed her "When we have drills at my house, and the police show up, I'm supposed to get on my hands and knees and crawl to grandma's house".

[BaylorBean]

Not student teaching but doing observations for my alternative certification.

[firecracker08]

I remember student teaching. I hated all the rules the program had, especially the journaling. Ugh...but I loved teaching my students. It was high school, and a boy told me he was going to come visit me at my dorm.

T: I'm coming to your dorm at BC
me: No you aren't
T: Yes, I am. I found where you live on the school's webpage.
me : If you come to my house, I'm calling the police
T: Why?
me: There is a lot of impropriety going on with teachers and students. If I call the police there will be no doubt that your presence is not wanted at my house.

He never came thankfully. But student teaching was hard work but taught me so much. Good luck!

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

I'm currently Student Teaching...err....performing my Clinical Practice.

Since I'm a Middle Childhood major I have to perform 2 placements during my experience. I just finished up with 8th grade language arts and I'm currently teaching 5/6th social studies.

Oh, and I hate my fucking portfolio. Waste.of.time.

Overheard from one of my 5th graders, "Yeah, I totally want to be a cow. Seriously, I want to be a cow, they have the best lives ever!"

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

When our family friend was doing her student teaching, she had a little boy come pull on her skirt and tell her "You're pretty - you should take off your clothes for money like my mommy does".

That is quite possibly and without a doubt the most awesome student teaching story I've ever heard. I would NOT have been able to keep a straight face.

As an update, I finished my K-5 placement with no complications and had no issues with my 7th and 8th grade PE placement either. Those of y'all that know my feelings towards Longhorns will find this following story quite humorous.

So, the students bring their own clothes from home to change into for PE class. Well, during my week of just observing, I notice that one of the guys wears a pair of burnt orange Horn shorts every other day. At the beginning of class the kids do their stretches and then Burpee exercises, with a different number of Burpees everyday. My supervising teacher usually bases the number on how they've behaved up til that point. So if they've been loud and unruly, they do 20 or more, if they've been good, 10 or so.

My first day of taking over, T is wearing his Longhorn shorts. At this point I've introduced myself the week before, they all know that I'm from Texas and got my first degree from A&M. So they do their stretches, and are looking at me to see how many burpees they have to do and I go out with, "Well, I was only gonna make y'all do 12 burpees, but T is wearing those ugly orange cow shorts, so you've got 25."

For the remainder of the 5 weeks I was there, he NEVER wore the shorts again.

And woohoo, I was one of 3 reciepients(sp?) of the Outstanding Technology Lesson Plan Award for Student Teachers. Not too shabby for a PE guy, eh?

Rio, do y'all have Electronic Portfolios? Cause that thing has been the bane of my existence. Check mine out Kitso's E-Portfolio

Kitso
KS 361 hours I spent on the road the past two weeks, tryin to find a job.

[BetteDavisEyes]

Originally Posted by AggieSigmaNu361

And woohoo, I was one of 3 reciepients(sp?) of the Outstanding Technology Lesson Plan Award for Student Teachers.

Congratulations! That's pretty exciting.