It’s early Sunday morning as I find myself relaxing on my couch, reflecting back on the past few weeks (recently finding myself enjoying my last day of spring break). I have been extremely blessed the past 10 weeks for the experience that I have been given. I have had the pleasure to teach 23 wonderful kindergartners for 7 weeks and now have 26 outstanding 2nd graders! Each one of my students has their own story; some of which break my heart. Although the school that I am teaching in is brand new and is in a small and wonderful community, it is a school filled with much sadness. I have experienced and encountered more than I ever thought I would at this point in my career…after all, I am just a student teacher! Despite the sadness and the needs that the students are faced with, mine in particular, each child is eager to learn! As a friend recently asked me, “How does it feel to be called Miss Niehoff?” I shared with him, one of the many wonderful things that I experience each day in my classroom. As each new day starts, I greet each one of my students as they walk in the classroom door, in return, they extend a morning greeting back to me either calling me Miss Niehoff or Mrs. Niehoff, with an eager smile on their face. If I am lucky enough, I am the first to share this greeting; but more often than not, they beat me to it. It is with each unique smile, that I am given a reminder of why I went to school to become a teacher and why I am in the position that I am in. They inspire me. They make me want to better myself as an individual and as a teacher. I have had moments when I have questioned myself and the choice that I made to move back home to student teach in this area, but it is the “small things” within my classroom and the school that reassure me that the choice I made was the right one; I am where I am supposed to be.
As stated, I have started a new adventure in a 2nd grade classroom, where I have 26 amazing students! Although I loved kindergarten and I miss my kiddos, I am grateful for the experience that I have been given to be in a different classroom for 10 weeks. I have yet again been blessed with a remarkable cooperating teacher. She has allowed me to enter her classroom as a guest, but has provided such an experience that I am not a guest, it is my classroom and they are my students. Because I have entered a new classroom, it did take me some time to get to know all of my students by name, to get myself into a new routine, and to adjust to a different level of independence displayed by the students. My cooperating teacher and students, along with all other faculty and staff have welcomed me with open arms and have made me feel like I am a true part of the “family” within the school; this has allowed my transition into a new classroom much easier. I look forward to each new day and the conversations that will be had whether it is with another 2nd grade teacher, the school liason, or the janitor. (On a quick side note…I was down in the cafeteria the other day and had to do a double take. The head janitor was in the kitchen helping scrub down pans from the amazing pasta that was served at lunch that day. How many janitors do you see doing kitchen duty? They always say that you need to make “friends” with everyone that works in the school because you never know what kind of problems you may encounter. Well, they are right. My last week in kindergarten I had a child get sick…who came to my rescue? Yep…the head janitor. And who was it that went out of his way every morning to unlock my classroom door so that I could arrive to school early and not have to wait for my cooperating teacher…the head janitor. And like I said before…I’m just a student teacher). As far as the teaching part of being in the classroom, well it didn’t take long to start “taking things over.” After only 2 days of observing, I started by taking over the first part of the morning with attendance and morning meeting, as well as teaching math and social studies. It was also by the end of the first week that I had taken the lead of one of the guided reading groups in the classroom. So, by week’s end, I was planning for the morning meeting, alternating math and social studies and the planning for those lessons, and planning for a guided reading group. By the end of the second week I had taken on full responsibility of math (we finished our social studies unit the first week) and another guided reading group. I have had the privilege to work directly with students from another 2nd grade classroom through my guided reading groups; what an experience. I am quickly approaching the time that I will be full-time teaching in this classroom, which doesn’t seem real. It is a very exciting thought though because I love being able to inspire each one of my students and seeing when something “clicks” for them. I will be teaching full-time starting the last week in March (which is only 1 week away) through the entire month of April. It is the first week in May that I will end my experience and prepare myself for graduation. Although I am excited for May 13 to be here, it is something that I don’t want to think about just yet. I want to be able to enjoy the moment that I am in. Day by day, I am seeing small improvements on the many things that I am learning and becoming more of who I am and who I would like to be as a teacher, not just a practicum student there to teach a lesson. The feeling of knowing that this is what I want to be doing and what I want to put my heart into, feels amazing. I am pushed everyday to be as good as I can be.
And so I end this post with a few quotes that say a lot and put into words part of my experience:
"When you look at a person, any person, remember that everyone has a story. Everyone has gone through something that has changed them." -Unknown
“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” - John Cotton Dana
“By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn." -Latin Proverb
