As I approached the front of the class, I nearly broke out into a sweat. I quickly started to glow in bright shades of pink and red. "Can I do this? Am I explaining this correctly? Will they understand? Oh man, I sure hope I don't make a mistake, but no, I hope they will enjoy my lesson!!!" These were just some of the thoughts that were bouncing around simultaneously from hemisphere to hemisphere....
"Okay, okay their raising their hands to answer...GREAT!, alright they seem to be answering everything correctly....AWESOME" As I paced around the class, answering questions, checking answers, these were the thoughts that were calming down my doubts....I guess I really had nothing to worry about! This was the initial feeling I had to make me realize that I actually didn't do so badly, it made me feel more comfortable, adding some points to the "Confidence" column. After the lesson was done and it was time for recess, a few students came up to me, hugged me and said, "Miss D. that was an amazing lesson, can you teach us Math everyday!! You make it really easy for us to understand what to do" - a sudden burst of excitement flowed through my body! Shortly after one of my ESL students who has only been in Canada for a year approached me in broken English and said...."Miss, I love Math, BUT I love your Math so much!" and he scurried away with his snacks. At this very moment, it felt like fireworks went off, bells were ringing and I had an ENORMOUS smile from one side of my face to the other like Ronald McDonald.
It wasn't until this moment that my confidence points had been maximized. This student really enjoyed MY MATH, he liked my lesson, he understood my lesson; these were the most powerful words that I had ever been told. No matter which teacher has ever said "you'll be a great teacher", it wasn't until this very moment, on this day, that I actually felt confident in my teaching and in the ideas I was coming up with for my lessons to ensure each student learned equally. I now see the importance of building a community in the class where students and teachers alike express their feelings, give opinions and communicate about their learning experiences to help create a better one that is inclusive for all.
"Miss D. your the best Student Teacher in the entire world, can you stay all year?"
Hi Melissa!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog, "The powerful words of students." It is incredible how much a simple sentence like "Miss I love Math, BUT I love your Math so much..." can have such an effect on you. At that point, you know your lesson was attainable to that particular student, and I am sure to many others, and the feeling goes beyond what words can explain. Congratulations!
Looking forward to seeing you next week.
Eva
It's so true what they say about teaching. There's so much talk surrounding the stress that teachers go through with planning and marking and testing and having to deal with bureaucratic administration and last-minute changes and attitude-ridden students. And there was so much talk leading up to our practicum about how we'll spend all our waking hours working and that we'll never get enough sleep. I found myself wondering "is this what I want to do for the next 40 years?"
ReplyDeleteBut then it was the things like this that made me say "Yes!". And to be honest, there was (for me, at least), way less work then people told me there would be, perhaps because I didn't consider it difficult. I would whip up lessons and enjoying giving feedback. (The most difficult part was trying to give original feedback on the last 5 of 30 essays on the same topic lol).
I think there's so much said about the negative side of teaching, but I think a lot of that negative stuff (no sleep, lots of marking, etc) comes from teachers who don't get any enjoyment out of teaching, who struggle with it because they don't know how to make it fun or easy for kids or themselves. Your blog highlights THE best part about teaching, and shows me that you are going to be an awesome teacher :)
now let's go kick a soccer ball!