One Task Done!

I'm not very good at following this advice most of the time.

When my principal asked me if I wanted a college student to observe my classroom, my first thought was sure! So I agreed to have a fresh faced, nineteen year old in my classroom for her ten hours of observation.

It was an interesting experience.  She was super dedicated and came way more than her required hours.  She sat in on a grade level planning meeting, went to GATE, went to specials, and observed some special ed  teachers.  

I didn't do anything special to prepare for her because I didn't want to put on a "dog and pony" show.  I went about my normal teaching routine so she could get the most authentic view of teaching possible.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

She saw a life chat where I told my students I was disappointed in them.  Nine of them failed to do their must do assignment.  During their hour of independent reading while I pulled conferences, they had to write down what they thought the theme of their book was and why on a post-it.  Two minutes, tops.  Yet, they didn't follow directions and that's disappointing.

She got to witness  a student receiving a citation for being off task (despite five reminders), having a melt down, breaking my pen, and running away.  I calmly let the office know I had an eloper and went about with my day.  The rest of the students didn't know. I'm so fortunate to have a supportive administration and counselors that stepped in to handle the student's crisis and keep me in the loop about how to best help the student.

She got to talk to some of my students about their work and filled notebook pages with observations (which makes me a little nervous!)  She helped prep an activity and witnessed the joy of making hundreds of copies.  Since we share planning responsibilities, everything is made in sets of 200.  

Her last observation was Monday, so I got her a card to wish her well with the rest of her classes and gave her my contact info.  If you're reading this Ms. F, I'm glad you observed! I'm here if you need anything!

I really lucked out with my student observer.  I hope to see her again because she lives in the neighborhood and has younger siblings at my school.  The other students have been in for maybe an hour or so, but she cranked out all of her observations in the start of the semester (smart girl!).

I want to be more involved with mentoring (since I didn't have one and want to give back), so one task (partially) accomplished!