I cannot believe it, but I did it! I survived my first week of middle school…AS A STUDENT TEACHER!
This week marks my first week in my classroom. I am student teaching in a 6th grade middle school science room, with a focus on Earth and Space Science! I must say, one of the most challenging things about this placement is learning 140 students’ names, when I only see them 3 times a week! The way my school’s schedule is set up is I teach 3 periods on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for 90 minutes with the same content being taught Monday/Tuesday, and Thursday/Friday. On Wednesday we get all 6 periods for 45 minutes, but really 30 minutes after getting them settled, taking attendance, and completing the warm-up. I absolutely love the students, and this is my first experience teaching middle-schoolers (since I was a middle school myself), so the whole experience is exciting but scary at the same time!
My cooperating teacher is also amazing! Besides having a lot in common personality wise, interest wise, and habits wise, we also get along great in the classroom and I see her being a huge support throughout my journey to being an almost real teacher. It’s great and important to have a cooperating teacher, who has had a lot of experience in the classroom, which mine has, and I am also her first student teacher (after having been teaching for 11 years) so it’s a new journey for us both! I’m really looking forward to this next few months with the students and my cooperating teacher, and getting to relive middle school again! Stay tuned!
Ms. P