This week my student teacher is taking the week for teaching. She has made great progress and handing over the reigns, though difficult, has been wonderful. I have been getting caught up on so many things, one being the heaping piles following the aftermath of report cards from last week. After today I was doing a happy dance at all that I had accomplished. Got some assessment done to recheck a few things. Made some books for my students. Created a new chart for our stations that should help things go much smoother. Re-configured my schedule to adjust to a new schedule for our para-professional staff. They are taking away support time from my classroom, but a new schedule should help. I even got intervention plans done for several weeks. I am hoping they will get me all the way to winter break. I am feeling good, relieved and a little guilty. Why the guilt? Well, I know a lot of teachers who would love a week to do what I am doing. I wish it was possible to give teachers a break just to get ahead and get organized when it begins to all get overwhelming.
Enjoy this feeling because we all know it never lasts long enough. Having a student teacher is a lot of work, but it does give a little breathing space.
ReplyDeleteJust wrote you a response that is now in cyber space. To sum: you were still working hard, just differently. Enjoy the "time" now and thank you for all the work you are putting in to mentoring a pre-service teacher!
ReplyDeleteCatching does feel so good -- I agree it would be great to find a way for teachers to have time to do that… and time to collaborate… and time to visit each other in classrooms… seems like we need more time! Thanks for sharing --I feel more relaxed just hearing how much you accomplished.
ReplyDeleteClare
Good to hear from someone who is feeling ahead! Thanks for sharing a happy dance, Betsy! Enjoy the feeling.
ReplyDeleteJust a day would be helpful, Betsy. Happy for you that you've had this time.
ReplyDeleteBetsy, what a blessing. I celebrate your time to catch up and to breathe! Looking forward to seeing you at NCTE.
ReplyDeleteI remember my final student teacher (from Brown) had TWO solo weeks in the classroom. I basically stayed across the hall in my friend (the reading specialist's) office, planning future lessons, chatting with her, etc. It was like a vacation. I felt SO guilty for it, but in the end, I knew it was the best possible thing for her to have complete control of the class without me in there.
ReplyDelete