Saved by the Bel(ding): Ups and Downs

This week marked the 4^th week of my special education placement… I’m halfway done with this placement and will be transitioning into 2^nd grade so soon! The time has flown by! I took this week to look back on the positive experiences and the challenges that I have gone through during the past few weeks, both inside and outside of the classroom. I have been keeping a journal, aside from this blog, to reflect and process my student teaching experience.

I’ve gone through a range of emotions these past four weeks, and the only way to work through them, I think, is by reflecting and coming up with ways to change things I don’t like and continuing with things that I think are working for me.

Positives

Challenges

· Being welcomed into a new school and community – Everyone has been friendly, supportive, and accommodating to my needs as a student teacher.

· Building rapport – I’m getting to know my students on a personal level, which I mentioned in my previous posts. I try to find connections between us to relate to them better. Listening to them talk and paying attention to the little things has worked in my favor because it shows them that I care.

· Creating my own material – Since the students are learning material a little below their grade level, I don’t have curriculum books to look at and to copy material from. The workbooks that the students have are very advanced and need to be modified. Through this experience, I’m learning to find and use reliable math websites to create my own, modified teaching material for my students. This skill will definitely be useful for when I have my own classroom and need to supplement the general curriculum.

· Learning about the logistics of being a teacher – I have attended team meetings with the school principal and a special education referral meeting. Both meetings have shown me the side of teaching that I’ve only heard about in classes. There is a lot more that a teacher is responsible for besides physically teaching students in the classroom. It’s amazing to see how much the 7^th/8^th grade teachers care for their students and work together to ensure each individual student’s success in all subjects.

· Importance of team teaching – There are four team teachers in 7^th/8^th grade that teach their respective subjects. They are constantly communicating together to make sure that everyone is on the same page about lessons and certain students (regarding behavior or classwork). There is so much trust and openness among these teachers that it makes me look forward to the group of teachers that I will eventually work with when I become a teacher.

· Friendships – I’ve gotten closer to my roommate, Alexis, and my walking buddy, Gabe. We’re having a great time living on our own and exploring the city together. Alexis makes me laugh everyday no matter how tough our days are, and Gabe is there for me to bounce off ideas for lessons with my 8^th graders. He’s also a trivia whiz, so I’m learning some new things from him as well!

· 8^th grade vs. another elementary grade – The biggest challenge that I face every day is teaching 8^th graders. Prior to my first day of student teaching, I was under the impression that I’d be working with 4^th-7^th graders. 8^th grade special ed is a very different territory than what I’m used to. Though it is a challenge, working with 8^th graders has taught me a lot about myself that I probably would not have learned if I had been with another age group.

· Student behavior – I probably mention this in all of my posts. Dealing with student behavior, especially in 8^th grade, is tough. I’m not used to students talking back or yelling at me. I get flustered on the spot and need a few seconds to collect myself, but those few seconds are all it takes for the students to become out of control. I think this is a challenge for me because I met these students in the middle of the year. If I began the year with them by setting my own expectations and practicing those expectations, I would have less of an issue with these behaviors or would not have these behaviors at all. This just reinforces the need to set and teach reasonable expectations to students during the first few weeks of school.

· Finding the line between being a friend and being the teacher – This is a struggle that I face a lot. While building relationships with my students is important, I need to make sure that they see me as a teacher before they see me as a friend. It’s my personality to want to be nice to them and to listen to them. But finding that balance is a continuous challenge that I hope to improve on throughout the next few weeks.

· Students taking me seriously – I look like an 8^th grader. I’m shorter than most of them. This becomes a physical challenge to get students to take me seriously and to think of me as a teacher. There’s nothing I can do about this challenge, really, except maintaining assertiveness and being confident in my teaching. Hopefully, this isn’t an issue when I’m working with the younger kids!

Fun things that happened this week:

· It was Twin Day at Belding! The students paid $1 to dress up as a twin with someone else for the day. Ashleigh and I dressed up as twins, too!

· I was scorekeeper at Belding’s annual Geography Bee! Some of those questions were pretty difficult! I really enjoy getting involved in Belding events because it allows me to see the talent of the students in all the grades.

· I’m starting my Service Learning Project in a couple weeks. As a participant of the Urban Program, I’m required to do a service project that allows me to meet local community members while giving back to the community. My plan is to start an arts and crafts program at the local Boys and Girls Club. I’m really excited to begin this program because it will be a change of scenery – arts and crafts and working with a younger age group – for six to seven weeks.

· Alexis and I visited the Swedish American Museum. I learned more about Swedish immigration to the United States and the impact they made in Chicago in the late-1800s/early-1900s. Here are some fun facts I learned:

o Family Bibles were considered to be family heirlooms. They were used to record family history that could be handed down from generation to generation. The one on display was 22 pounds!

o Brudkrona = bridal crown – Swedish brides wore the bridal crown on their wedding day to symbolize purity and to feel like royalty on their special day.

o Famous Swedes: Buzz Aldrin (walked on the moon), Alfred Nobel (founder of the Nobel Prize), Walgreens, Nordstrom, the builders of the Wrigley building and Wrigley Field (a connection to my sister who works for Wrigley!), and the builders of the structural framework for the Baha’i Temple in Wilmette, IL.