A New Year With New Goals

As I begin my path towards becoming a certified middle/secondary educator, I decided to sift through a thesaurus to interpret my feelings for this upcoming, final year of student teaching. Simply stating that I'm "scared" or "nervous" doesn't seem to do this concoction of conflicting emotions true justice. Some more detailed descriptions would include words such as tense, distressed, apprehensive, and panic-stricken. Yet, I feel that these hyperactive nerves are a strong indicator that I'm serious about my career choice, eager to learn all that I can from this upcoming experience. To better prepare myself, I've created three specific goals that I am to achieve this year as a student teacher.

• The cooperating teachers I've worked with in the past have both provided similar feedback; that I can improve on my classroom management skills. I often find it difficult to regain a class' attention when the students become distracted or difficult to handle without having to slightly raise my voice. I will make sure that I am able to manage the classroom environment through a more subtle, adept manner.

• Within the past two semesters, I have felt quite confident in my lesson plans. They made use of my creativity and content knowledge while also remaining engaging for the students. Unfortunately, each of these lessons only lasted for one class period and I felt that I did not gain extensive experiences from them. In doing so, learning how to form whole lesson plans and extensive units will be a priority for me.

• I am naturally a very organized and structured individual. I even pride myself on it, but I've come to learn that successful teachers are those who are flexible with their classrooms and schedules. Developing a more adaptable disposition will benefit me in various ways, and ultimately allow myself to work with the students without worrying if we skew off course just a little.

"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become."
-C. S. Lewis