tales of a student teacher.

I'm a senior at the University of Hartford studying elementary education, currently doing my student teaching in a fifth grade classroom in Hartford. I'm starting to think about having my own classroom, and want to get as much inspiration from as many sources as possible.

'A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance. Every person...can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives.' -Barack Obama
My new class!

So I’ve officially been in my new placement for a week now & I can safely say that I’m in love with my new fifth graders, my cooperating teacher, and my school.

My students are little angels. Literally- so well-behaved, especially when you compare them to my students last semester. They’re also adorable & precious. The other day when I was walking them to the door to send them home, one turned to me & said, “Miss Stearns, did you know hamsters have a thing in their butt that looks like a door? Have a good weekend!” ….. cue me being obsessed.

My cooperating teacher & I get along so well. She’s a lot like me- relaxed, go-with-the-flow, etc. My coop last semester and I got along phenomenally, but we were complete opposites. It’s nice having someone with the same personality as me. (: She’s also a Cowboys fan, so that worked out well, too. (heh heh heh).

My school is gigantic and old but actually beautiful. Plus the schedule is so much better than my last placement! We have Morning Meeting for 45 minutes, which I’d never had before in any of my fieldwork/practicum. Then Literacy & Writing until Lunch and a ten-fifteen minute RECESS. I love that these kids have recess, I really do. My students last semester didn’t have recess and didn’t leave their classroom for lunch- so they literally sat in the same room all day without moving. It was painful! Then after lunch we do math for 1 1/2 hours, then “Essentials”- Art, PE, or Music. I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS. Kids need Art, PE and Music. NEED. At my old school they only had PE. Kids need Art & Music. Kids need Art & Music. I will forever be adament about this. Then an hour of Science, then dismissal! :D

There’s one bad thing, though: I won’t be allowed to teach full days until after the Connecticut Mastery Tests are over. So that’s a bummer…but also less planning for me. Win/Lose? I do already run Morning Meeting and do small group test prep, so that’s pretty solid.

WEEEEEE. Overall an amazing experience already. (:

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  1. storiesofastudentteacher posted this
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