What do these final days feel like to you, as you stand on the brink of un-hyphenated teacherhood?
What are you most proud of from this semester?
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The Path Home
About Me
- Dr. Cook
- I am an Associate Professor of English and Secondary Education at Rhode Island College, where I am also the Director of the Rhode Island Writing Project.
It hasn't hit me yet that we're all graduating. I've felt a weird mix of emotions: glad that this experience is over, but also a little empty because I am going to miss all you girls! I'm getting teary-eyed as I type this because I love you all very much, and I'm going to miss our weekly gatherings, so we definitely have to have at least one get-together a month. I'm looking forward to a break, from work and from school (although I love my work!). I'm going to miss tutoring, too, but I'm going to be on the hunt for some type of job in tutoring. But for now, I'm going to enjoy life for a while.
ReplyDeleteAs for proud moments at school, I have three. The first happened last Thursday: Dr. Cook encouraged me to do activities with vocabulary, so I found a few ideas online and made them my own. I made a vocabulary word search for word recognition, and it was actually a little difficult because of the length of the words and the size of the text. It was a challenge, which was great because the students need something that is slightly beyond what they can do. I wanted to lay some groundwork because they don't always do well with vocabulary. The next thing I did was vocabulary jeopardy: boys vs. girls. It was so much fun! They were really into it, and they all participated fully. Then, we played charades with the vocabulary words. The students were laughing so much because they were trying so hard to come up with mimes for the words and they also felt that funny awkwardness that always accompanies charades. The next day, one student told a couple of other students that they missed a great class and that it was so much fun. I was so excited and overjoyed that fun was happening in my classroom. I had not experienced it at the same time as my students before, and it was such a great class. They took away some new knowledge about their vocabulary words, that they can have fun with them and learn them at the same time.
Another proud moment for me was when another class handed in their newspaper articles. Many of the articles were very creative and professional-looking. I hadn't delved into exactly what I wanted the articles to look like, but I did give them parts of the newspaper to give them a good idea of what an article should look like. They took off with their own creative ideas, and I got some great results. I was especially impressed with the two who used Microsoft Publisher: their articles were professional and extremely creative, because they accompanied their main articles with a couple of human interest stories and a letter in the form of a poem. They were wonderful.
The last proud moment was yesterday when a student from the third class handed in his character sketch for Macbeth early. His essay was beyond what I thought I would receive: it was written eloquently and his characterization of Macbeth was superb. I was thoroughly impressed with the results. I gave him a 99 on it because it was an excellent piece of writing. On the rubric, I told him exactly that. It made me proud to be his teacher.
I will remember these moments, as well as our seminar classes, fondly. I will especially think about the time Amanda and I spent together, sipping hot chocolate and just having some lovely conversations. I don't know what I would have done without her - she really helped me to put things into perspective and helped me to feel better about everything. And of course, Dr. Cook, you have made me feel like I have so much potential to do work other than teaching. Thank you so much for helping me to see that I do have some strength and that I can make it. And to Tracy, Kathryn, Jill, Nicole, and Nicole, I will miss your energy, your words of encouragement, and just being able to get together and be ourselves. I enjoyed our time together, and I hope that we can have more good times. I love you all very much, and if I don't get to see you tomorrow, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. I know I will enjoy mine. <3
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ReplyDeleteLaura—thanks for sharing that. I am very proud of you for rising to the challenge that this semester has been! Congratulations to you, and to everyone, for making it across that bridge!!!
ReplyDeleteSo I am sitting here, alone with my coffee; I just dropped the kiddies off at school. This is the first time I have had a quiet minute to reflect on my last few days of being a student-teacher. All in all, I do feel very proud. Not just for completing student-teaching, but for finishing my degree!!!! Yeah! It’s been a long time coming……
It is really just sinking in now: that I’m not driving to school to greet my students, that I am cozy at home with my coffee instead. And I have to say, it feels great and it feels sad. I am sure I don’t have to explain that to anyone….because we are all feeling it. I am anxious to step into my role as an un-hyphenated teacher, and I am hoping I don’t have to wait too terribly long to do that. I hope I can get a permanent position for next school year! I hope all of us find the perfect job for us, soon!!
As far as what has made me proud this semester, there are many things….
A few are:
*The first moment I really felt like a teacher…during a collaborative “explode a word” on the board with the word “War” in Period 4 at Vets.
*Lexi opening up to me about why she was crying during class
*Having to move the seats using post-it for Period 6, and getting through it without any student meltdowns
*Seeing the results of my Period 4 “Theme Projects”
* Dylan telling me I was the best student-teacher he ever had…..because I “knew what [I] was doing, [I] just seemed like a teacher.”
*Culture day at Woonsocket—seeing all of my students so excited to share their hard work and their heritage with me
*Seeing Brandon “get it” when I was trying to teach him how to fix run-on sentences.
*Catching Anthony accidentally listening to the story I was reading (despite his plae that he wasn’t going to do anything in class that day)
*Connecting with Cedrick (the new kid coming from Hamlet with a bad reputation from his teachers) and finding a slow, but willing learner
*My last day, seeing that the kids were actually going to miss me, and hearing the Writers Notebook entries they wrote to me…
So yes, I feel pride, some for myself, but mostly for my students! I think that is one thing that makes me feel even more like a teacher…my pride doesn’t exist in isolation.
Thanks again to everyone, especially Dr. Cook, for supporting me and guiding me through this great adventure! Have a wonderful holiday everyone! As for me, I will be celbrating Chistmas (as a college graduate) in Pittsburgh this year with my whole family together. I get to meet my new niece, Lilly, and see my Brother--home on his first leave from the Navy! It's going to be a special holiday!
I can't wait to get together after the holidays for our first "special monthly!" I love you all!
The first Special Monthly has been tentatively planned Saturday, January 8th.
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