Friday, February 13, 2009

Student Teaching

I have been quiet. I started student teaching in January, and I was looking forward to a rewarding time that would shape my future career. So far, it has not really worked out for me.

There will little things in the beginning. The classroom teacher would say and do things that I thought were totally inappropriate. There were incidences of racism and humiliation towards the students. However, I wasn't there to judge the teacher.

He was no help to me in lesson planning. In fact, he never read my lesson plans. I know because I handed him the same lesson plans two weeks in a row. He didn't notice. He never gave me the kind of support a classroom teacher is supposed to give a student teacher.

I tried to talk to him. I tried to point out that racism and humiliation have no place in a classroom. I tried to get him to live up to his arrangement with the university. I finally had to report the man to my school and the decision was made to pull my from that assignment. Sadly, I had to turn those poor kids back over to the heartless teacher.

So, I am sad now. What should have been a happy, productive time for me turned into a nightmare. The past week, I could not even stand to be in the same room as the man. I am happy to be out, but very sorry for those students.

The school is giving me some time off to relax and prepare for a new assignment. Wish me luck.

Happy Knitting!