A Midterm Reflection
By, Lucas MacArthur
It came down to the wire, as far as the saying goes. My new wife and I were sitting around one Friday afternoon playing a game of cribbage. It was a seemingly average day except for the constant question that has been lingering over my thoughts for weeks. Where in the world am I going to be doing my student teaching, and what happens if I do not get placed? Finally, later on that friday, my phone rang, and on the other end was Theresa Libby, the principal at J.A. Wendt Elementary school in Cathlamet Washington. The deal is that I will work with the fifth grade class on sort of a routine trial period. It was not exactly what I expected, but I was happy to be given any chance that I could get. I had already prepared my life for this moment. Helped my wife find work, blew the dust off some old text books, started to read through them, and finally told my current employer that I will be needing the next three months off. The time to change my life has come. For the entirety of this semester I will be solely concentrating on one task, and that is to become an educator.
Walking in to the school for the first time was somewhat of a remarkable moment. It has been nearly a year since I had done any field work, and I found myself both excited and nervous to be finally getting back into it. Since I had been placed late, I really had no idea what to expect. I was only able to meet with my cooperating teacher once, therefore I had not been able take any part of setting up the class. Also, I have not been able to meet with any of the students or staff. It was an entirely new atmosphere for me, and I had this nagging since of being out of place. It was time to take on the highest responsibility ever bestowed upon another person. It was time for me to take my place in front of a class of students all looking to me for knowledge and advice.
I had explained to my cooperating teacher the first time that I had met with her that I wanted to be thrown under the bus. I would love to take on any task that she wanted me to take on, and I would not shy away from being put in to situations that would more or less make me uncomfortable. Here is the time to think, to act, to say, to be. If I wasn't ready that would be fine, because not being ready is not a choice at this moment. She seemed to enjoy my enthusiasm, but wanted me to start off slow. The first thing that I would do is read a story to them. That was it. She asked, "do you think that you are comfortable enough to get up in front of them and read Gary Paulsen's Hatchet?" This was not just slow, this was as bad as waiting for an important page to upwnload with a bad internet connection. "Yeah! Sounds wonderful," I said.
The first day of class I will never in my life forget. I sat at her desk, and I watched with elation as the kids I will soon be teaching marched into the classroom. I got some strange looks, a few of them seemed brave enough to come up and talk to me, but none of them knew how happy I was to see them for the first time. My journey, I felt, has officially started, and I could not be happier with it. All of my life's hardships have built up to this moment, and it now seems all worth it.
She calls the class to order, and the sea of 34 gently calms to a silent eagerness. For the first week we are going to be doing games, projects, and explaining how we expect them to act. The first thing that we do is to introduce ourselves. The class interviews the person sitting next to them, and will then introduce their partner to the class. As the microphone passes from one student to the next, I strain to hear the barely audible interview that I was looking forward to hearing. Some more confident than others, and every once in a while you hear a small objection about what was being said. It was still fun to get this feel for who I will be working with over the next three months.
Next my cooperating teacher stands in front of the class and tells a little bit about herself. She has been teaching for the last 35 years, and that means that she has had many of their parents in her class, some of them more than once (she taught multiple grade levels, she wasn't saying that they got held back). Her and her husband own the local hardware store, and for many years she has been a volunteer fireman...let me rephrase that, firewoman. She expects this to be a very fun and exciting year in school with many exciting things happening. "That being said, I would like to introduce you to Mr. MacArthur. He is a student teacher from the University of Montana, and he will be with us for the next few months." She turns her head, looks at me, and says, "Mr. MacArthur, would you care to introduce yourself?" Now all of a sudden reading in front of the class doesn't seem so slow.
I stood up and introduced myself to the class, and I still to this day have no idea what I was saying. I wanted to present myself as this guy who was thrilled to be there, but I have to admit that I was caught off guard. If this first impression that I made is a base level for which I begin to judge how I have grown in front of my students, then I have come an extremely long way. When it all comes down to it I am thankful to have had the experience through Mrs. Wright on my side. I thought that I wanted to just get up there and start teaching them from day one. It would not have been able to work out like that. I would have not been able to become what I am today if I tried to be Mr. Superhero from day one. I took to reading from the story with much more enthusiasm and respect then I ever thought I could. Then later as I sat and watched a true professional at her best do her thing, I started to get this readiness to try more, until finally I found myself teaching all day long and being more of that professional instructor that I truly want to be.
When I look back at the experience that I have had through the first half of this semester, I realize much of what it takes to become a teacher is being able to criticize yourself and evaluate the effectiveness of your instruction. I found myself doing a lot of that up unto this point. I really meant it when I set a goal to solely concentrate on teaching and nothing else. It has been the thing that I have struggled with throughout my life in college, and it was time to change. I seek advice continually, and I want people to tell me how I could have made things better. In doing this I have found that I have many strengths. I have a knack for thinking on my feet, and creating well thought out questions that guide students to thinking about solving problems in their own way. As well as being able to obtain the respect of all my students, I show my class respect and an interest in their learning. There is a student in my class that for some reason just hated to do math. He was recalcitrant to anything that we tried to teach him about numbers, and he definitely voiced his opinion on many occasions. Finally I sat with this student to teach him long division. "Mr. MacArthur, I do not get this at all!" I knew that he was a bright kid that just needed a little inspiration to want to do the work in front of him. I asked, "Have I ever told you about my friend? I am thinking about having him come into class to talk to everybody. What do you think? You know what he does?" "No, what?" he asked. "Well, right now he is working on a new video game." That was the spark that he needed to go after math. I knew that him and his friends are what you might consider young gamers. They are all talking about the newest game, and how well they did. All I had to do was relate that to math and he has become one of the top students on the subject.
This particular student represents both my strengths and my challenges. I feel that sometimes I really have to be cognitive with who I spend time on while class is in session. It is too easy to work with the kids that really work and show that they are fired up about learning. My challenge is to really spread out my discussion to those kids that are working harder on trying to get lost in the crowd. If a kid is struggling with a math concept, then he/she needs more of my attention then that of the kid who can't sit throughout the day without raising their hand on every question. My other challenge is to become less of a friend. I think that I get caught up with the thought that some of these kids need more of a positive role model that I worry about what they think of me. I need to make sure that I work on separating myself a little more from the students while still maintaining that higher level of respect.
What this experience has shown me is that I am capable of becoming what I have set out to become. My interest in the welfare of my students is going to be what guides me to continuously grow to solidify my strengths and overcome my challenges. Just as i will never forget how it felt to experience walking in to my class the first time, I will never forget what it takes to be an effective teacher, and I expect the rest of this semester to progress with advancements that I have not been able to foresee yet.
I had explained to my cooperating teacher the first time that I had met with her that I wanted to be thrown under the bus. I would love to take on any task that she wanted me to take on, and I would not shy away from being put in to situations that would more or less make me uncomfortable. Here is the time to think, to act, to say, to be. If I wasn't ready that would be fine, because not being ready is not a choice at this moment. She seemed to enjoy my enthusiasm, but wanted me to start off slow. The first thing that I would do is read a story to them. That was it. She asked, "do you think that you are comfortable enough to get up in front of them and read Gary Paulsen's Hatchet?" This was not just slow, this was as bad as waiting for an important page to upwnload with a bad internet connection. "Yeah! Sounds wonderful," I said.
The first day of class I will never in my life forget. I sat at her desk, and I watched with elation as the kids I will soon be teaching marched into the classroom. I got some strange looks, a few of them seemed brave enough to come up and talk to me, but none of them knew how happy I was to see them for the first time. My journey, I felt, has officially started, and I could not be happier with it. All of my life's hardships have built up to this moment, and it now seems all worth it.
She calls the class to order, and the sea of 34 gently calms to a silent eagerness. For the first week we are going to be doing games, projects, and explaining how we expect them to act. The first thing that we do is to introduce ourselves. The class interviews the person sitting next to them, and will then introduce their partner to the class. As the microphone passes from one student to the next, I strain to hear the barely audible interview that I was looking forward to hearing. Some more confident than others, and every once in a while you hear a small objection about what was being said. It was still fun to get this feel for who I will be working with over the next three months.
Next my cooperating teacher stands in front of the class and tells a little bit about herself. She has been teaching for the last 35 years, and that means that she has had many of their parents in her class, some of them more than once (she taught multiple grade levels, she wasn't saying that they got held back). Her and her husband own the local hardware store, and for many years she has been a volunteer fireman...let me rephrase that, firewoman. She expects this to be a very fun and exciting year in school with many exciting things happening. "That being said, I would like to introduce you to Mr. MacArthur. He is a student teacher from the University of Montana, and he will be with us for the next few months." She turns her head, looks at me, and says, "Mr. MacArthur, would you care to introduce yourself?" Now all of a sudden reading in front of the class doesn't seem so slow.
I stood up and introduced myself to the class, and I still to this day have no idea what I was saying. I wanted to present myself as this guy who was thrilled to be there, but I have to admit that I was caught off guard. If this first impression that I made is a base level for which I begin to judge how I have grown in front of my students, then I have come an extremely long way. When it all comes down to it I am thankful to have had the experience through Mrs. Wright on my side. I thought that I wanted to just get up there and start teaching them from day one. It would not have been able to work out like that. I would have not been able to become what I am today if I tried to be Mr. Superhero from day one. I took to reading from the story with much more enthusiasm and respect then I ever thought I could. Then later as I sat and watched a true professional at her best do her thing, I started to get this readiness to try more, until finally I found myself teaching all day long and being more of that professional instructor that I truly want to be.
When I look back at the experience that I have had through the first half of this semester, I realize much of what it takes to become a teacher is being able to criticize yourself and evaluate the effectiveness of your instruction. I found myself doing a lot of that up unto this point. I really meant it when I set a goal to solely concentrate on teaching and nothing else. It has been the thing that I have struggled with throughout my life in college, and it was time to change. I seek advice continually, and I want people to tell me how I could have made things better. In doing this I have found that I have many strengths. I have a knack for thinking on my feet, and creating well thought out questions that guide students to thinking about solving problems in their own way. As well as being able to obtain the respect of all my students, I show my class respect and an interest in their learning. There is a student in my class that for some reason just hated to do math. He was recalcitrant to anything that we tried to teach him about numbers, and he definitely voiced his opinion on many occasions. Finally I sat with this student to teach him long division. "Mr. MacArthur, I do not get this at all!" I knew that he was a bright kid that just needed a little inspiration to want to do the work in front of him. I asked, "Have I ever told you about my friend? I am thinking about having him come into class to talk to everybody. What do you think? You know what he does?" "No, what?" he asked. "Well, right now he is working on a new video game." That was the spark that he needed to go after math. I knew that him and his friends are what you might consider young gamers. They are all talking about the newest game, and how well they did. All I had to do was relate that to math and he has become one of the top students on the subject.
This particular student represents both my strengths and my challenges. I feel that sometimes I really have to be cognitive with who I spend time on while class is in session. It is too easy to work with the kids that really work and show that they are fired up about learning. My challenge is to really spread out my discussion to those kids that are working harder on trying to get lost in the crowd. If a kid is struggling with a math concept, then he/she needs more of my attention then that of the kid who can't sit throughout the day without raising their hand on every question. My other challenge is to become less of a friend. I think that I get caught up with the thought that some of these kids need more of a positive role model that I worry about what they think of me. I need to make sure that I work on separating myself a little more from the students while still maintaining that higher level of respect.
What this experience has shown me is that I am capable of becoming what I have set out to become. My interest in the welfare of my students is going to be what guides me to continuously grow to solidify my strengths and overcome my challenges. Just as i will never forget how it felt to experience walking in to my class the first time, I will never forget what it takes to be an effective teacher, and I expect the rest of this semester to progress with advancements that I have not been able to foresee yet.
