Zinzer - Week 1

It's go time.

First stop, Barrington High School.  As I was driving to my first placement on Tuesday morning, I felt a rush of emotions take over my body and my mind.  Fear, uncertainty, excitement, confusion and anticipation just to name a few.  Questions ran rampant through my mind like ivy creeping up the side of a house.  Will my students like me?  Will I find the staff bathroom?  Is there even such a  thing as an English Department staff bathroom?  Where do I put my lunch?  Where will I eat lunch?  I had to make it stop.  I quickly got out of my head and switched over to Spotify and played my battle song, "My Hero" by Foo Fighters.  All was calm again.

"Trust the process".  That's what my cooperating teacher, Alan has been saying to me throughout the week and I'm going to listen to his advice as I embark on this journey.  I trust him and I trust the process.  I feel like I've been on a rocky boat this week, but am beginning to get my sea legs one day at a time and one class period at a time.

I had the pleasure of meeting my 130 (rough estimate) students.  For the first nine weeks, my student teaching experience will be comprised of two periods of Honors Sophomore English - Living in a Global Society and three periods of AP Junior English - Rhetorical Analysis.

This was a week of getting settled and introducing myself to the students.  I spent a lot of time navigating my way around the classroom and the building.  Alan and I went over the classroom expectations of the students and all of the great characteristics and strengths (along with weaknesses, although, not many) that the students encompass.  I also spent a great deal of time observing Alan and his teaching style while picking up on his vernacular.  This was very helpful and I'm grateful to have this week to be a sponge and soak up all of the good stuff.

The students in all of these classes are high flyers.  They are extremely intelligent and are always up for a challenge.  The class is run through a discussion-based format and it seems to be the norm as far as structure is concerned for all five periods.  I'm excited to switch formats and play around with seating arrangements.  I would like to have the students move around more and collaborate in small groups as well.

I'm looking forward to discovering my strengths and weaknesses as a student teacher in the upcoming weeks.  I'm also looking forward to immersing myself in the content that our class is exploring which includes various essays, poems and the literary components of rhetoric.  The Illinois Professional Teaching Standard that coincides with this is Standard 2 - Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge.  By knowing the content well and building the confidence level in what I'm teaching, I hope to create meaningful learning experiences for these students.

~Kirsten