Well, tomorrow begins my last week of student teaching!

Seriously, it’s unreal how fast it went!

I would like to share some of my first impressions of my student teaching placement as I reflect on my experience in first grade:

1. I was SO excited to be placed in the district I grew up in! It has always been a dream of mine to teach in the district I also went to school in, so I was excited to learn I would be student teaching there (and hopefully get my foot in the door). On my first day, the principal and my cooperating teacher welcomed me with open arms and I could tell I was going to have a great experience there.
2. I was nervous about the transition from 6th grade to 1st grade- I have always wanted the primary grades, but my clinical experiences at UIUC included two 6th grade placements, and one 3rd grade, so I felt like I now had more experience with the upper grades and wasn’t sure how the transition back to the little ones would go.
3. From Day 1 I was proposed with some challenging students, My very first impression of the classroom I was about to student teach in was a student in particular who has a 504 for autism. This student was JUST diagnosed upon my arrival, so all the plans put in place for him were also new. About an hour after I had settled in, I got a glimpse of some of the challenges I was about to face- the student was throwing a tantrum, kicking and screaming on the floor as well as throwing objects and pushing over chairs. In this moment, I knew I was in for some unique experiences.
4. Overall, I was overjoyed to begin student teaching! My cooperating teacher was so sweet, and the class was made up of 20 kids who seemed as eager to get to know me as I was them.

Stay tuned for next week, as I reflect on my final thoughts of my student teaching experience!