As a student teacher, I feel that have learned so much this semester. This experience has been invaluable to me. I have a cooperating teacher who is very dedicated to her job and she tries to help me a lot, even though her plate is full with graduate school courses and deadlines. However, it has been a very challenging task for me to balance teaching, working (part-time) and motherhood.
Once I am on my own as a first year teacher, I will no longer have someone to consult with while I am in the classroom. The thought of that makes me feel a little anxious. I realize that I have so much more to work on, to read about, and to experience. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and discouraged at this point. I wonder how I can become the effective teacher that I want to be without sacrificing time with my daughter. My questions to the class are the following: How can I find the time to develop my professional skills and knowledge while balancing my family responsibilities? Can it be done successfully? Additionally, I would like to know………………besides looking for a job this summer, what are some of the things that you will do to enhance your personal development as a future teacher?
I too, think about how it is going to be as a first year teacher without my cooperating teacher there to consult me. It is difficult balancing student teaching with work, school and other responsibilites. My recommendation would be that when you are a first year teacher, get accquainted with your coworkers as well as the administration. By being part of a team in your school, they can also consult you throughout your experience as a first year teacher. I do not have any children, so I can only imagine the difficulties of taking care of a family while teaching. However, my cooperating teacher has a child and from what she has expressed to me, it is manageable. Because her daughter is at school while my teacher is teaching, she is able to spend a lot of time with her after school hours and after some time, you get the hang out having to do work for school (grading papers, lesson plans, etc.) while also taking care of your family responsibilities simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteI have, as well, experienced trouble this semester with balancing time. Although I do not have a family commitment to hold, I do work 25-30 hours a week and it has proven to be very tough. This semester I tried to stay ahead of things and be prepared which has worked for the most part but at the same time there have been days or weeks in which I was highly overwhelmed and had very little time to complete things. My best advice for you is to try and plan the things in life that you can and be ready for each day as a teacher. Also, once you complete your first year of teaching, I am sure things will fall into place more seeing as you have a solid set of unit plans and you also will have an understanding of how to manage your time. The best you can do is look to other teachers in your building that are in similar situations and ask them how they handled their first year.
ReplyDeleteI too am concerned about how to do this on my own, but I know that as first-year teachers we are required to have a mentor. Having a mentor will be a lot different than having a cooperating teacher watching us and offering on the spot input every day, but I think it will help a lot to have someone who is assigned personally to help us develop into the teachers we want to become.
ReplyDeleteOver the summer, once I know what grade I'm going to be teaching, I plan to get to work on the unit plans and lessons to try to relieve some of the stress when school starts. I am having a hard time juggling student teaching and my kids, too, so I am preparing my kids and husband for the idea that my first year of teaching will not be much better than things are now. That idea is really hard, but it's not forever - and that's what I keep telling myself. Eventually, this whole process with get easier and quicker. I can already see that I can research a topic and create a lesson in much less time than I could in January when we started.
I also plan to do some teacher reading this summer. I bought Lee Canter's books "Parents on your Side" and "Assertive Discipline" that were recommended by one of our speakers and I plan to spend time reading them and figuring out how I can use them to get ready for the school year.
Although I do not have children of my own, I am very committed to my family and I also have many other responsibilities. I know exaclty how your are feeling! My saving grace over the last few months has been my planner. I literally write everything down, including time for my family and boyfriend. If I do not schedule it down in my planner, it will not happen. So anything from work on the weekends, to a parent meeting, to dinner with my family must be scheduled. Do I have any time to breathe? NO, but at least I know everything is in order and will get done. I have also learned to delegate and break my walls down. To be honest, I have learned to set time for me to just sit and vent to my mother or my boyfriend and cry it out. I have realized that if I release some of the tension and anxiety, then, after I compose myself, I can get back to work and be even more productive than before. So remember, it is not always a bad thing to be vulnerable sometimes. With dedication and a positive outlook, I know you can do it! As far as this summer goes, I plan to raid Barnes and Noble of any teacher books that they have and read up on some stuff that may help me in my field. I also want to get a head start on whatever position I (hopefully) attain. I feel the more I have done when I step into the classroom in September, the better off I will be and the less stress I will have as a first year teacher.
ReplyDeleteIts just one of those things that we all are going to have to deal with in our own way. You have to understand that being able to teach and bring in a decent income will help your child or children in ways that you could not have done before. There is not hiding the fact that we have chosen a profession that is going to be taxing. The benefits, though, will far outweigh the negatives. Before going into your student teaching period you were likely asking yourself how you were going to balance it out. You figured it out. Same goes for your teaching career. The first year will be tough, and fortunately, it will get a little easier every year. Thank gos we will have breaks and summers off.
ReplyDeleteTeaching is never ending learning experience. As the generations change, our teaching styles should reflect to the students interest. As a student teachers we learn and experience a lot. Once you have your own classroom you will be able to apply what you have learned so far and throughout the experience you will learn even more. You should reflect upon yourself the first year of teaching so you can adjust your mistakes or add on your imperfections. I'm in the same situation, and the best time to do my work is when my daughter is sleeping, this way i don't feel guilty i'm not spending time with her. Good luck and if you have the desire you will succeed.
ReplyDeleteI felt this way too at the beginning of student teaching and as the semester progressed I found some great solutions to the overwhelming demands of the new shoes we are filling. Prioritizing was really important, understanding what is expected and what is additional to the task at hand. The teachers we are filling in for have many responsibilities they took on due to their tenure and ability to juggle as they became seasoned teachers. We need to keep in mind that our curriculum and lesson planning can be planned in the summer months prior to beginning the school year so that we may focus on implementing classroom management before teaching as the new school year begins. Most teachers focus on setting up the procedures for their classroom the first few weeks of school before getting 100% into the curriculum. The tools we learned in our curriculum making course (summer for post-bacc students) helped map out the ten month school year, interdisciplinary units and more. Keep in mind that the feelings that accompany student teaching are normal as it is our first time teaching the subject, and each day gets easier...I expect a lot of myself and my students which applies pressure sometimes unnecessarily but awareness of things we can fit into our schedules and those that need to be paired down is vital to our sanity and success as new teachers. Keep smiling!!
ReplyDeleteThis year has been a whirlwind of emotion and work. I have a feeling that we are all experiencing the same anxiety; maybe at different times and intensity. I know that this year has been rough from beginning and it will not let up until we succumb to the fact that this is the life of a student teacher.
ReplyDeleteWhen people say, "When it rains, it pours," they were not kidding. Anything and everything has gone wrong this semester. I know one thing- we did not choose this profession because it was easy; we chose it because there is something that pulls us towards the classroom. for lack of a better expression, it is always darkest before the dawn and I keep this in mind at all times- it can only get better. :)
The one great thing your going to have your first year of teaching is a mentor. Hopefully you will get one that will actually take the time out to be there for you and help you because that is their purpose. They will be a great deal of help to you when it comes to anything. Try and form some relationships with some of the staff as well. You don't need to be everyone's best friend, but try and find someone who you believe you can trust and confide in at the end of the day. It is going to be overwhelming at first, but that's how it would be with any job. You put the time in at the beginning and you'll figure out what to do. Once you get the hang of it everything will fall into place and you'll have plenty of time to spend with your family. There will not be much sacrificing in that department. It's just going to be more about prioritizing at first.
ReplyDeleteFinding a balance is a really hard thing to do! I have also had a little hard of a time finding a balance between everything that has been going on, but one of the first things my student teacher told me was to always make time for yourself and your family no matter how much grading and work you have. It sounds all great on paper, but it is really hard to actually do. I have actually had a harder time finding time to fit school work inbetween needing to make lesson plans and finding activities for my students to do. I have found more of a routine now, but it is very difficult. I think it will just take practice and time to find how to balance everything. One of the things that I will miss about being a student teacher is having someone in the class with me who knows the students like I do and being able to bounce ideas off of them, and discussing things. I have really enjoyed my students and the staff I have worked with and will really miss them, to the point it makes me a little nervous to apply to some other places. I have found a balance, and when we are done student teaching it will start all over trying to find a new balance, but I think after we get going it will fall into place the way it is supposed to.
ReplyDeleteNot only the official mentor but I've found that other teachers are willing you help the new person on the block. Hopefully you become employed by a good school district in which veteran teachers are willing to help us first year teachers. And as Sam said, we have to make time for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I hope that I will have more freedom as a first year teacher. My cooperating teacher was not as open to me wanting to try instructional strategies that I had researched about or learned about in my coursework. Student teaching has given me the chance to understand the importance of good timing in the classroom and to truly understand the importance of good planning. Never underestimate the power of a To Do List. :) I also agree with Yuri. I've found that there a lots of other teachers that are willing to share ideas with you. We just have to be confident that our time at Caldwell has prepared us. I learned much more this semester than I have learned in any other semester. I feel ready to jump in with both feet!
ReplyDeleteThis summer, I will be doing lots of reading to be sure I'm up-to-date with the "hot books" in English curriculums. I'll also be a working at a day camp as a cooking instructor. This position will give me lots of experience in working with younger kids. (2nd to 7th graders instead of HS seniors!)
I'm excited and nervous about what the future holds! I hope that there is a school district out there willing to give a new teacher a chance to have a positive impact on their school.
The thought of teaching, taking graduate courses, and making time for your personal life does seem pretty daunting, but it's manageable because we are all doing it now during student teaching and we've all learned how to balance these responsibilities. My advice to you, which I have learned during my student teaching, is to utilize every free moment at school. When you have a planning period, a duty, or lunch try to get some work done. If you utilize your time productively like this you will accomplish more at school and will have more downtime with your family at home. Also, make sure you build a good rapport with your co-workers because they will provide you with valuable information if you get stuck or have any questions and concerns. Lastly, once you get into a routine of what you need to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis in school, the balancing act won't seem intimidating anymore. It will become second nature. Don't panic, you're going to do a great job at work, at school, and with your daughter.
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