Last semester I was in Methods I, which came with a middle school placement. I was supposed to be in a class for 3 hours a week, but I ended up going way over my hours and always stayed for the full day because I really did love my mentor teacher, my student teacher and my kids. But it was a rocky adjustment, because I went from an observer who wasn't allowed to do anything to basically a co-teacher.
I was not as active as I would have liked in my first placement, and I was definitely not as prepared as I should have been. And I'm absolutely going to have to change that.
This semester (starting in August) I have a high school placement, which I am both excited and nervous for. I emailed my mentor as soon as I got my notification and she emailed me back the next day, which I'm going to take as a good sign. We're going to meet up later in the summer to get to know one another and 'start making plans', which is super exciting. I offered to help her get the classroom ready, but hopefully she'll let me look at some of the lessons for the first couple weeks of school as well.
I have some goals for my placement that will begin with prep work over the summer. (Lots of Pinterest. Lots.)
Establish contact with mentor (done!)Find out specific subject and grade level (also done!)- Look through Methods I notes and resources to find anything reuseable
- Look through TPT/Pinterest/etc to find some resources specific to the class level
- Create a list of potential projects/tasks that I can complete during the semester or before it starts
- Meet with mentor before school starts with my handy dandy list and designate a specific schedule for my hours
- Help set up classroom (ideally I would love to be able to help design a bulletin board and/or introduction assignments)
- Attend the first day of school (and hopefully back-to-school night)!
- Have a regular function in the class. Last semester I spent most of my time walking around among the kids, answering questions, reading with them, and editing their work. This semester I would really love to have something that I'm primarily in charge of. (As an example, if I come in on Thursdays, that's the day we have book discussions/personal writing assignments/spelling exercises, so I would consistently lead those activities.)
I like to think of myself as a very organized person, but in reality I'm just a very organized student and I'm working on getting the rest of my life together. But that counts. Right?
Being a college student (especially in an education program) comes with a mind-blowing amount of paperwork and due dates and events and meetings and about a billion other things, but for the most part I think I've gotten the hang of keeping everything organized in a way that works for me.
1. The most important thing for me, personally, is my planner. I have one that is almost identical to the one pictured except for the pattern, and I really like it. It displays by month and week; every week takes two pages with big spaces for each week day.
(I'll post pictures of my own planner later if/when I find my camera)
2. I'm a super visual person and I love color. It's probably stupid but having a planner full of color makes it a little easier to look at. This is my absolute favorite kind, although they're more like very thin markers instead of pens. I use a different color for every class and then one more color for my club. This way I can glance at any month or week and see exactly what I have due in every class just by how much of which color is more prevalent. I also use these when taking notes and studying (I write most of my notes in regular black pen and then go back with a different color later to add things or circle especially important/confusing stuff).
3. I love Post-its. A lot. I use these to write lists and then stick them in my planner, or write details about an assignment and then stick them on a handout or on my notes. I also use them to write notes and stick them in my textbooks. I also cut them up and use them as flags for important pages.
4. Until last semester I hated binders. I used to have a notebook and folder for every class which worked out great for my gen ed classes. But when I started getting into my serious education classes I realized I was out of my mind if I thought I could keep shoving all of my papers into one folder. So I made a binder for my two most important education classes. I like these binders because they're easy to open and pretty sturdy, and I like the clear sleeve in the front in case I ever feel ambitious and want to make a cover.
5. And of course, dividers to go in a binder. I need plastic dividers because the paper ones tear way too quickly...or maybe I'm just too rough with my stuff, who knows.
6. I hate loose leaf. Sorry not sorry. Maybe I'll reconsider this one day but for now I'll stick to notebooks with perforated pages that I can tear out. I've never been disappointed with the spiral bound Mead notebooks, but they're a little expensive unless I can find them on sale. I like buying one or two big notebooks with a couple subject dividers in them so I can take notes for different classes and then tear out sheets and put them in my binder later.
7. People obsess over Thirty-One and I totally understand why. Their stuff is cute and most of the prices are pretty reasonable, and they have started catering a lot towards teachers. This utility tote is really popular with teachers and I can definitely see why. I love mine and it can hold a lot of stuff without everything getting tossed around like a regular backpack, plus it looks so much more professional than a backpack or purse.
8. Binder clips save my life and I use them for everything. I use them to hold all my students' papers together, all my projects, to hold my place in my planner, to close the occasional bag of doritos. I usually just buy a multipack of the plain black ones in all different sizes, but the ones I link to are super cute.
I really am not talented with introductions. Assuming anyone ever reads this I might rewrite this post, but for now I'll just jump right in:
I am a 21 year old teaching student about to start my second methods placement in August. I'm starting this as a way to document my journey through my methods placement, internship and eventual career as a teacher. This will mostly be a bunch of posts about my experiences, opinions, and things I find on Pinterest.
Right now I'm trying to work out how the blog actually looks, but I have a few topics I'd like to work through for future posts.
- Being a methods placement vs. a student teacher
- Classroom decor
- Thoughts on censorship of books
- Personal organization for teachers
