It's nice to belong

I am thoroughly enjoying my student teaching experience! It's such a great feeling to belong. I've been in my assigned classroom for just a week now and my cooperating teacher has made me feel at home. Every teacher, parent of visitor that stops by the room she is quick to introduce me to. It's nice to be introduced as her student teacher. She doesn't say, this is the student teacher assigned to my room, but "This is MY student teacher." I'm finally finding my place and can truly see myself as a teacher. I can confidently walk into a classroom and know that what I'm doing is important and that I'm making a difference to someone. It's something that makes me feel valuable as an individual.

I've been given the responsibility of teaching Science, Social Studies, and Health, so far. These are subjects that are seldom a student's favorite and often are covered so quickly and briefly that kids don't get much out of them anyway. Today in class we did a lab where the students examined different rock and soil samples to determine similarities and differences between them. As I was preparing the samples, the student kept asking when it would be time for Science. When the time finally arrived you would've thought it was Christmas morning and these kids couldn't wait to tear into their gifts of rocks and dirt. As I was moving about the room while they worked, I heard one student, clad with her magnifying glass, say to another, "I feel just like a real scientist!" It may not sound like much, but I was so excited. It's nice to know that learning can be fun and educational.

Delores even managed to stay in her seat for most of the lab today.... when she wasn't smoking her crayons, pretending they were cigarettes. I guess this gives her the option of getting Cerulean or Razzle Dazzle Rose lung instead of the, rather boring, "black" lung. It's unfortunate that parents can be such unhealthy role models, and it shows just how impressionable young children are. I would venture a guess that smoking isn't the only bad example Delores's parents have set for her, and seeing her unusual behavior in class, I'm afraid to say that she may just be a carbon copy of her mother. Parent-teacher conferences may be interesting!