. Regurgitated Alpha Bits: Ego Blow

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Ego Blow

Student: When are you going to be our teacher again, Mrs. Lee?

Me: As soon as our student teacher is all done with her time with us. We sure are going to miss her when she leaves.

Student: We miss you too, but you don't need to come back right away.

2 comments:

Katie said...

i'm about to start student teaching, is there any advice you can throw my way? :)

Edna Lee said...

Oh, Katie, Katie, Katie...

RUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!

But if you don't, then let me say I am humbled that you asked me.

Good classroom management, in my opinion, makes or breaks a teacher so get as many classroom management techniques as you can from as many teachers as you can. Figure out your behavior boundaries and then bring them in even closer. And no matter how difficult it is at times, and trust me it will be, be sure your students and parents always know that everything you say and do comes from a place of caring. Work hard to make your words and actions reflect that feeling no matter how much you want to grab them all by the shoulders and shake them...

very hard.

Finally, when you have your own class, form relationships with your parents beyond back to school night and conferences. My teaching partners and I have a monthly picnic in the park with the parents and spend the entire time shaking hands, schmoozing, learning about their lives and they learn about ours. It's the best thing we've ever done. The trust we build with the parents pays off greatly throughout the year. The only parents who have had issues with us are the ones who don't attend our monthly picnic and therefore don't really know us and what we're all about, and consequently we don't know what's going on with them. Inviting parents into your school lives just for fun, not to work or give money, endears you to them forever.

I'll shut up now. I hope those are helpful. Best of luck in your student teaching!!!!

Oh, and be FLEXIBLE!! Nothing is set in stone ever in school except state testing. :)