This journey of becoming a future English teacher has been quite the ride thus far. I cannot believe that we are actually in the final stretch of this journey, just one field placement and student teaching away from our certificates (well that’s if you do not count other classes, praxis II, etc…) It just feels that way. Although we have had our own previous experiences in soph. block and other various places in the classroom, I know that all of our feelings towards preparedness definitely vary. For myself, I feel as though I have a lot of areas that I feel very confident in, but more than likely like some of my peers, I feel as though there are definitely things that I could work on before this experience starts. As for being prepared, I feel as though I am definitely ready to handle a classroom full of students. I know that I have what it takes to grab attention, and with a little bit of luck, I can keep it for the duration of a lesson. I feel as though another one of my strengths of being a future teacher is definitely the use of technology in the classroom. I am very fluent and creative when it comes to using technology and know that I will be successful at it in the classroom. I am almost excited to see what my placement brings me as far as technology use in the district. Maybe I will be able to bring new insights into my classroom. One of my final strengths is my professionalism. Although I may be a very fun and outgoing individual around my peers and friends, I have had jobs recently where I have to separate myself from my peers and not disclose personal information about myself. Even though this was difficult on the for-front, I now feel very well-practiced in being able to keep a professional side, even around students who may be close in age to myself.
Although I feel prepared in these areas, I am definitely still nervous about some. One of the major areas that I am worried about is content knowledge. I am nervous that I will be placed in an AP or Honors course where the students may be reading materials I have never covered, or have just recently covered in college classes. It makes me nervous to think that they might ask me a question and I will not know the answer, but another student will. I also do not think I am prepared in the area of planning lessons. Although I have already done a few, it is really difficult for me to gauge time length appropriate for certain lessons. I just hope I am able to get enough practice before placement or even during placement so I am prepared for student teaching. One final thing I am definitely nervous about is not being prepared in the sense of school politics. Although I did not rank this as one of my top 3 areas of interest in class, it definitely worries me that I will go into placement with all these fun, new ideas, and get them shot down, leaving me at square 1. I know I will be able to adjust my lesson(s), but I do not know if I am prepared for the mental impact it might have on my determination and passion. Without creativity, I lose a lot of my personality, and that is definitely something that makes me really uneasy.
As I stated earlier in my first paragraph, I definitely feel prepared for dealing with a classroom of adolescents because of previous jobs I held this summer. I watched 59 Orientation Leaders grow right in front of my eyes, some who were even older than I was. But I almost played sort of the “teacher” role with my co-orientation student manager, Kate, to show and teach these peers all about orientation, its process, and how to handle a group of incoming students appropriately. I think that having a classroom full of adolescents will be fun and challenging, just like this past summer, because not only will I be teaching them, but they will be teaching me about themselves, their “generation”, and about how they view things, so I am able to adjust and better help students I come across in the future. I plan to come in professionally, and hopefully grab their attention with my creativity, preparedness, and easy-going attitude. I am definitely nervous for stated reasons, but more nervous because this will be the start of the beginning of the end.
-Dakota DeFiore
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