I am in a two-day stretch of snow days and I thought I would write a little about student teaching. So far so good. Cory may find some of this more interesting than others.
It has helped that I worked with my host teacher once before and was not only familiar with the school and the novel that I would be teaching. So really, so far so good.
After tomorrow I will be a quarter of my way through student teaching. There are nine periods at Sarah Scott Middle School. My schedule is as follows: 1: advisory (basically homeroom, not sure why they call it advisory). 2: advanced lit. 3: team meeting (when the seventh grade team meets, daily) 4,5,6: regular lit. 7, 8: lunch and personal prep. time (12:55 until 2:23) sometimes I go out, sometimes I go home, sometimes I stay and read, 9: last class, reg. lit. The schedule is awesome, the students are released at 3:15. My host teacher prefers to begin her day early and so leaves very soon after the students leave. I usually arrive at the school at around 7:15 and leave around 3:20 or 3:30. We've had one faculty meeting so far, that lasted until around 4:30. My host teacher is also the team leader, of which Cory knows something about.
The school is in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area, but, as my experience in 2007, the students continue to upend the middle-school stigma. There are moments, of course, but so there are at any stage. The most basic observation is that of the wide range of maturity levels found in a middle school. There are students that look like fourth graders sitting by students that look like first year college students, but the behavior and academic levels are deceiving.
Cory, any dissension between reg. ed. and special ed. at your school?
It is interesting to see how a school operates. This particular school has a very good principal and I think that helps immensely.
I plan, as discussed with Cory, to write a little more often and with more specifics regarding education. But let this be a preliminary look at my experience so far. So much happens everyday. It has been going very well so far. More soon.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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