Monday- talked with cooperating teachers about taking Friday off to spend time with my mother. They both agreed with enthusiasm.
Wednesday-told fellow student teachers at an Aldine District meeting. They were enthusiastic as well. 30 min later… the meeting on ethics began.
It was hilarious to receive a lecture about “excessive absenteeism” after admitting that I was calling in sick, so to speak. Thankfully these student teachers were not total suck ups like the others in the crowd. I have noticed that the BYU students (10 BYU students compared to 2 USU students at Aldine) are more willing to brown nose to the only 2 district representatives at the meetings. But love them or hate them they are from Utah and I miss my home culture a lot.
Student teaching is going pretty well so far. I have embraced the reality of teaching in AISD (Aldine) with an open and very cynical attitude. The students DON’T want to be there… have no notion of the real world… and think that you enjoy telling them what to do every two seconds. Teachers must teach to the test, literally, since they are evaluated on the results, but their number one focus is classroom management. I believe you could not truly enjoy teaching your content in Aldine because discipline and the students’ academic level are the primary focus in the classroom. Can a student grasp an intellectual question if they are worried about their boyfriend, appearing as a thug, and wondering what an adjective is? DIDN’T I TELL YOU I’M CYNICAL! However frustrating this district can be, I still believe it would be an amazing learning experience and I’m going to stick it out.
Another reason I am frustrated at the moment is the lack of future planning with my teachers. I can’t plan for a week in advance because the teachers themselves don’t know what they have planned for tomorrow. Grant it these teachers are under a lot of stress and their curriculum got changed by the department head for the first time this year. I have a lot of sympathy for both teachers, but that doesn’t help me please my University Supervisor or practice lesson planning skills. It’s been an interesting few weeks in limbo, but I hope I get accepted into the gates of heaven pretty soon. I don’t know if the Heatons read my blog… but if they do they should still move down here so we could have friends. That and I think Blake would be a great teacher in AISD.
4 comments:
I like how you titled this "funny story..."
And we miss you in Utah.
We keep up with your blog and Blake has really been waiting to see what your experience is like. We are still considering Texas and everywhere else to live, we just have no clue what we're going to do. We are going to stay up here for his last semester of teaching though since he'll be graduating in December we are expecting we won't get a job until the following school year so we're going to stay with Cafe Rio until then. I don't know if Chris worked with Alyssa, but she pretty much just walked out last week so Blake and Tanni are on their own once again. Don't you guys miss Cafe Rio?
Does everyday at work make you feel like you never want to have kids because they will someday be teenagers? ;)
If the co-op teachers still won't let you plan in advance in a few days you should talk to your USU supervisor. Good luck!
Thanks for the words of wisdom!
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