First Week: Check!

My first week of student teaching is done! It was a great week, and I am really excited for the weeks to come. But I definitely have to get used to this full-time job thing.. I was absolutely exhausted on Friday! No more naps every day for this girl. (They will be greatly missed.) I have also learned that coffee is a wonderful invention. But if I don't invest in a coffee maker soon, Dunkin Donuts is going to quickly burn a hole in my wallet. I am addicted to their French Vanilla Iced Coffee. Try it sometime, it's delicious!

But anyways.. Aside from adjusting to my new lifestyle as a full-time teacher (kind of), I am loving my placement! I am at St. Coletta's in Tinley Park which is a special education school. There is also an adult program in the same building, but it is technically separate from the school. I only have seven students in my class, and almost every one of them have a one-on-one aide. There are six aides in my class, and they are all very good. They help out so much, and it wouldn't be possible to get things done without them. My students all have different disabilities, and they are all at different levels. The Illinois Professional Teaching Standards state that the competent teacher "understands and identifies differences in approaches to learning and performance, including different learning styles, multiple intelligences, and performance modes" (3D). My teacher does this on a daily basis by putting the students together in three groups according to their learning abilities and styles. Ms. Kelly, my cooperating teacher, is awesome, and she is teaching me so much. She has been at St. Coletta's for about 5 years now, and she has had some of the same students for the entire time. This means that she knows the students extremely well, and she seems to know exactly what to do in every situation. When a student is having a behavior, she knows whether or not to address an issue or just ignore it. Some of my students act up in class because they try to get a reaction out of someone. For example, one of the boys bolts out of the room every so often. What he wants is someone to chase him so the staff learned that if they do not chase him, he will come right back. There are so many things like this that I am trying to learn because I want to do everything correctly. I know that I am going to make mistakes, especially at the beginning, so I just need to learn from them. But the more I can learn before I start actually teaching, the better it will be.

One of the best things about my first week was getting to know the students. On my first day, they were all a little shy towards me because they did not know who I was. At the beginning of the week I would jump around from student to student, and I would observe each of them while they were working with their aide. By the middle of the week I was working one-on-one with the students so I could learn even more about them, and so they could get used to working with me. While the students were taking a break or transitioning from one activity to another, I would have conversations with them about their families or what they do after school or on the weekends. My teacher and I also eat lunch with the students so I talk with them during that time as well, and I think this is really helping the students warm up to me. My students have a very set routine so having an "outsider" come into their classroom definitely takes some getting used to. I already have some students asking, "Can Ms. Melanie work with me today?" Talk about an awesome feeling! It is just so reassuring that the students want to work with me!

I am so excited for another week with this awesome class, and I cannot wait to start teaching lessons this week! I get observed on Friday so I will be teaching a few lessons during the week to prepare for that. Before I know it, I'll be teaching all day! (AHH!) How exciting! :)