Stories from student teaching at the high school

I was pretty mum about it, but it was a blast. Here's a few stories:

- Every Thursday a teacher in the English department brings lunch for the entire department. I was well fed. One week we had grinders, another ceviche, ortra semana we had carnitas, y beef stew.

- My first 2 classes seemed to really like me and were cool. They brought me food all the time like candy. They were constantly eating in class, which drove me crazy. They would pass around Oreos and other snacks to the entire class on a daily basis. We managed to get work done in spite of the laxed atmosphere. We ate so much food in that class - everyday it was like a party.

- One student, JC, gave me great feedback as we went through each lesson. She told me her opinion of what I taught. She liked that I gave the kids a record sheet with assignments that were due and points values. She told me she liked how her 8th grade language arts teacher gave everything to them in packets and it was due in a few weeks. The students worked at their own pace. I liked that- gives me ideas about my planning.

- I will miss Cyndi who was always trying to flirt with me and always asked how I was doing. Her friends always told her to stop.

- The period right after I made my videotape I had a pretty big faux pas while presenting that lesson to another class. I broke out into random Spanish. The lesson was on background for the novel The Pearl. I had a slide on the main characters that included Kino, Juana, Coyotito, and Juan Tomás. I was describing Kino and Juana, then I saw Coyotito and whatever it was in my brain triggered Spanish. I started describiendo Coyotito en Espanol. I said that Coyotito es un infante, el hijo de Juana y Kino. Describí el doctor y Juan Tomás en Espanol también. My kids just let me go talking in Spanish all smiles and then I caught myself. The kids just laughed. I laughed too. They didn't even question me about how I knew Spanish- it was more like this is an everyday occurrance that their teacher speaks in Spanish.

- My first period students were very high, but they were slow as molasses when it came to projects. My second period was also an honors class, but they were lower as far as test scores and grades, and worked much better in group settings. My third period kids were atrocious.

- I will not forget the fight in my 3rd period my second week. It was my first day taking over the class. RS and Chuck were sitting next to each other arguing. The rest of the class was silent. Chuck got mad and RS did too. They both stood up in front of their desks, and Chuck, the taller kid had his arms around RS. RS and him knocked over a desk, then both fell onto the floor. My master teacher and I ran over. I pulled RS off of chuck, who was short, and getting the brunt of everything. She held Chuck. Someone ran to get security. I felt like a failure for a moment. The class was unphased by the fight and many kept working. That was still talked about 8 weeks later on my last day. LOL.

- I won't forget having 2 master teachers. I am so thankful Mr. W chose to carry me through all of this since he thought the idea of me having 2 master teachers was stupid.

- I enjoyed not doing anything in Mr. W's class for 4-5 weeks while he taught Monte Cristo, which I'd never read, and they were already too far into the book.

- I won't forget Mr. P coming in during my first day of teaching in Mr. W's class. He was smiling at me and doing anything he could to distract me, and he did.