A Responsive Classroom

Student Teaching 101

As I embark on this journey to become an engaging, compassionate, and driven Early Education Teacher I am wondering what will I get out of my experience as a student teacher.  Since I have not met my student teacher, I hope that she is someone that I can absorb meaningful and useful experiences from that I can then bring into my own classroom.  I hope that she is an intentional teacher that cares about her students and making every second count.  Along with this I hope to learn from her a wide variety of strategies that can be used in the classroom, especially when an unplanned situation arises and she is able to use it as a teachable moment.  To witness this will allow me to grow as an educator and as a person.

As I walk into the classroom on Friday, I hope that the children and the teacher will be welcoming.  I want to learn from them as much as they can learn from me.  I know that I am there to observe the teacher, learn from her, take what works and note what doesn't, but in the process I want to make connections with the students and make a difference.  I want to observe what happens between the teacher and the student and see what forms of relationships she has with her students.  Does she understand her students?  Is she compassionate? Does she teach with intention?  Is she effective?  Is she empathetic?  My hope is that the answers to all these questions are all a big YES, because that is the teacher that I strive to be and that is the teacher that every child deserves.

I am currently a Substitute Teacher in a New York City Public School in Woodside, Queens.  I have been a Substitute Teacher for grades Pre-Kindergarten to 5th Grade for almost two years now.  It is very hands on and I do learn a lot when I substitute on my own and have my own class but I have been fortunate this year to have been working in the same Kindergarten classroom with the General Education teacher while the Special Education teacher is out recovering from surgery.  I have to say, the teacher I am working with is someone that I have learned the most from since I started working in the school setting.  Little things like singing the "Days of the Week" to the tune of the Adams Family and our morning hello and weather song are things that I never would have come up with on my own.  When she teaches kids how to cough and sneeze into their elbows she uses analogies like imagining they are a vampire and bringing their arm over like they are about to cover their face with their cape to cover their cough.  This gives the kids a fun picture in their mind that will most likely help them remember to cough into their elbow.  She is the most animated when she reads and the kids love it.  I am very fortunate to have worked with her these past two weeks and I feel as if my teaching has improved thanks to her.  These are the kind of things that I hope to learn from the teacher I will be observing this Fall along with techniques on how to teach certain subjects, how to "deal" with classroom situations, such as a child acting out or someone not following the rules.  Most importantly, I want to learn how to teach with purpose.  I want to become an intentional teacher whose goal is to make a significant and lasting impact on as many young students as possible.

To watch a veteran teacher in her element is so important as a new teacher and especially for a career changer as myself.  When I substitute, most of the time the daily plans are set out for me, but there have been some circumstances when the teacher doesn't expect to be out sick for the day and no plans are left.  Those days are more challenging, but I still manage by asking the kids where they left off in certain subjects and follow along with the teachers edition, I will never just give the students busy work,  because that is not my intention.  I am not there to keep them busy, I am there to educate.  Even if they learn one new thing from me as a substitute teacher that day, it will all be worth it.  It will be very informative to witness the teacher I am observing actually writing plans and working her curriculum.  To watch the teacher deal with unexpected events or even planned events that have taken a turn in a different direction, this is only something that you can learn by observing someone in the process, and hopefully they do it with finesse.

I hope to learn how to motivate kids that just don't seem interested in the subject that they are discussing that day and how to make teaching and learning a collaborative experience that the children and teacher enjoy together.

By the end of this semester, I hope that I will have become familiar with the content and curriculum for grade 1/2 and that I will have a better understanding of how the seven and eight year old thinks and learns.  This is the age that children become more independent.  They have already learned to read and write and can now be creative and put it into practice. I am very excited about this journey.  In the process this will take me one step closer to being the kind of educator a child needs, one that teaches with intention and compassion and genuinely cares about her students.  I am ready!

your champion,

Maria Cosentino
"Mrs. C"

"Every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be." (Rita Pierson)