Wow, what a first week! I think this has been quite possibly the busiest first week of classes I have had in my entire time at college. It has definitely been an exhausting and chaotic week for me between my classes and working at the university bookstore.
Anyway, allow me to introduce myself to you. My name is Samantha Raper, pronounced ray-purr, but my friends call me Sam. To any students reading, please call me Ms. Raper. Also, before you ask, yes I do catch quite a bit of flack for my last name. This is the beginning of my fifth year (yes, fifth) in college at Wichita State University and I'm just starting my pre-student teaching experience. Why the fifth year? I changed majors after a couple of years in the college of business and decided that I would rather teach high school English.
Yesterday, I attended my pre-student teaching school for the first time and had an orientation with my school's contact person. She introduced herself to me, handed me the packet that they give all new teachers, and then gave me a bit of a tour of the school. The orientation proved to be very helpful to me because seeing how this was my second time ever being in this school building, I had no idea how to get around! The people in the hallways were very friendly, all telling us “hello” or “good morning” as we passed each other. So far, I really like the atmosphere of this school, although its hallways are a bit on the toasty side.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to meet with my cooperating teacher (CT) yet. We have communicated back in forth in e-mails and we're both excited to meet! Our schedules are proving to be a bit difficult to work around currently, but we'll get it figured out soon. Hopefully, tomorrow I will know whether or not next week is going to work out as a start time for us. Otherwise I may not be able to start until after Labor Day! I'm really hoping that won't be the case, though! For now, let's move on to my main goals for this semester.
Last semester, I found that my lesson planning wasn't always very efficient. I tried to plan out my lessons using time limits, but the limits I thought would work were just too quick for the students in my class. Therefore, I hope to improve my lesson planning this semester, taking into consideration my students' learning levels and any other factors that might limit my teaching time. I'm horrible with time management in some cases, so if any of you fellow pre-student teaching students have advice for me, please share!
In relation to that, my lesson implementation was unorganized and I lacked confidence when presenting. I became so nervous when I was giving my lessons, constantly looking to my CT for guidance. Do any of you fellow future teachers have any tips to help me get my confidence up? Any advice is appreciated at this point!
