Student teaching — it’s the right of passage that almost every educator has gone through in his or her path toward being a teacher in our schools. As a second-semester senior in technology education, I began embarking on this journey on Jan. 2, along with many of my colleagues in technology education and across other education curriculums.
As our University’s focus is agriculture and engineering, many don’t know what education majors encounter during their professional semester. I only hope to enlighten and educate through this series.
Over the course of the semester I will be writing about my experiences as a student teacher at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School — my goal is to provide an insight into what beginning educators go through to become teachers and the challenges student teachers face.
At 5:45 a.m., while most college students are still asleep in their beds, my day as a student teacher has already begun. With my clock radio turning on to G105’s Bob and the Showgram, I get myself out of bed before the darkness of night has even given way to the light of day.
Some mornings I ask myself why I am putting myself through this during my last semester of college, then my passion for both technology education and the kids kicks in and I get a burst of energy to get me going.
During the quiet of the early morning, I fix myself breakfast, something I rarely use to do when I had an 8 a.m. class.
I exit my apartment no later than 7:05 a.m. to allow me time to scrape the frost from my windshield on the colder mornings and to make it to school on time.
Getting into my car, with coffee in hand, I turn on some music to make the 30 to 35 minute trip north on Capital Boulevard to Wake Forest. Listening to the radio has recently become a key in my daily commute, as I need to know of any traffic issues that may hinder my travel to school.
After pulling into staff parking space 0349 at about 7:40 a.m., my journey to school is complete — however my duties as a student teacher have just started. Walking into the school, I go down the hall to room 1040 where I meet my cooperating teacher, the person who will mentor me this semester as I student teach.
While N.C. State is currently in the second semester of the year, Wake County schools are finishing up their first semester this week with their final exams. This is beneficial to me because it allows me time to observe my cooperating teacher for a few weeks and to get a feel for the school environment.
On my first day as a student teacher I was nervous but excited — nervous because I was stepping away from the friendly confines of the college environment I have known for the past three and a half years and into the professional world; excited from the knowledge I will get to share with the students.
For me teaching is genetic — both my mother and father were educators, along with my grandmothers, great grandparents and even my uncle. I have always felt a passion to teach and mentor youth, so teaching came a’ calling and I eagerly answered.
I have been using the last two weeks to plan for when I start actually teaching, which will be Tuesday. Thankfully, my cooperating teacher has been great at helping plan what I will be teaching, giving me enough freedom to try what I want to while at the same time providing me his wisdom of past experiences.
School lets out at 3 p.m., but I don’t begin my 40-minute voyage home until 3:30 or 4 p.m. at the earliest. Most of the trip home I think about what I need to do for the next day, or what I have left to plan. Furthermore, this time is used to begin to decompress after a long and tiring day, knowing that in 14 hours I will be back on the same road.
I don’t know what to expect from the rest of the semester as student teaching moves forward. Right now I plan on taking it one day at a time and to ask questions when I need help, of which I’m sure I’ll have plenty. Only time will tell.
By this time next week I will have already taught my first few classes and will be well on my way on the student teaching path. I look forward to you joining me this journey — now where did I put the grade book?