Taking Chances

One of the great things about my teaching here in Texas is working with my cooperating teacher, Sandra Perez. She has been working with student teachers for many, many years. When we were talking together, she mentioned that she had an awful cooperating teacher during her own student teaching experience. So, she's made a commitment to take in as many student teachers as she can to "give back". And let me tell you, she's great at it. She said that she sometimes takes in up to three student teachers a year. That's a huge deal!

Some of my roommates here have kind of struggled working with their teachers because many of their teachers do not want to give up control in their classes (which is totally understandable; these are their classrooms). We're supposed to teach full time for at least 2 - 3 weeks while we're here. However, Sandra is really good about letting me do / try pretty much whatever I want. I started teaching on my 2nd day here! I've also been full time teaching for six weeks already... this is my last one. I think that because of this, I've really connected with my students. I'm gonna miss them like crazy!

I've had to figure out the delicate balance between not knowing much about something and knowing a lot about other topics. Both my university supervisor and advisor have made comments regarding my teaching and the knowledge that I bring into the classroom. Because I have had so many diverse experiences (in great part due to my education through the classes I have taken at Trinity and chose to take at UMM). My advisor said that as a student in class, in my conversations, and while I am teaching I stay on track with the topic, but I also draw information from everywhere that enriches or expands on the idea. This is great, but when I'm teaching I have to be careful... my students may not see where I'm coming from right away. It was great to hear that distinction.

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm not afraid to try something new with these students that I've never done before. For example, this week I started teaching to these native Texan students living on the Mexican border about the Texan Revolution. (Bring it on!) :) So, it'll be a fun last week and a half... lots of new experiences and adventures still left to be had. Huzzah!