Student Teaching

Wow! I just spent about two hours at the elementary school where I'll be student teaching. It's an inservice day for the teachers, but it was pretty informal. Therefore, I had a good chance to sit down with my Cooperating Teacher and learn some things about the students, the schedule so far, and some units she usually teaches. I'm a little tired; there's a lot to think about. I also met two teachers (Angela--the first grade teacher across the hall, and Andrea--the new middle school ESL teacher) and was reintroduced to Dalib and Aftaba, two of the three tutor/translators in the school.

As for the students, they're a diverse bunch. Grades 1-5, with the possibility of sitting in with the kindergarteners. They speak more than 20 different languages at home. They're Congolese, Russian, Chinese, Rwandan, Somali Bantu, Vietnamese, Bosnian, Sudanese, Burundian, Albanian, and Puerto Rican. Whew! I need to start thinking about a unit to do (with one age group, either a science or social studies topic). I also may have the opportunity to work on writing with a small group of students in grades 3-5. There's at least one student who is a behavioral challenge, 3 or 4 who are brand-new in Winooski, and one who will have an IEP. It's going to be a busy and interesting semester. I definitely have a lot to learn.