Final Days of Student Teaching

It is hard to believe that I have spent much of the past four years preparing for my student teaching practicum - and now it has come and gone! I am now prepared to have my own classroom! It is both an exciting and scary thought that soon I will be starting a brand new application process - that of applying for teaching jobs!

Student teaching was a great experience. I learned so much from my cooperating practitioner, and as I assess myself as a teacher, I can see the progress I have made since September. My classroom management techniques have grown, I have learned many ideas for how to set up my own classroom, and I have prepared numerous lessons. I feel so much more confident about starting my own classroom now after student teaching than I did before. I have heard many current teachers say that student teaching is what prepares you best for your own classroom - and although I still do not yet have my own classroom, I would have to agree!

The last week of the semester was more low-key for me since my cooperating practitioner once again took over a majority of the teaching. But in addition to some teaching, I stayed busy observing other teachers and also making two new bulletin boards to leave my students with. Here are my final projects:

The most exciting part of my final week, however, is when my kids surprised me with a small party and going away gift. A mom volunteered to bake a cake for us to have during our small party, and together the class presented me with a gift. During art class, all of the kids decorated a big L.L. Bean bag monogramed with Ms. Charest with their hand prints. Then they filled the bag with gifts they donated to me to begin my own classroom library with. It was the best gift I have ever gotten! I will definitely use it during my first few years of teaching!

Now I am excited to have a long winter break for Christmas! It was a challenging, busy, exciting, nerve-wracking, and exhausting semester, so I am certainly excited to relax with family and friends, re-organize, and re-charge for my final semester at Stonehill! (I'm still not used to saying that by the way :/ ) I'll be blogging again soon about my holiday!