Student Teaching - Weeks #10 & #11

by Kathryn Williams - Taft High School

The Teaching Week

POW:  This week on Thursday we had Report Card Pick-up, or parent-teacher conferences.  Everything went OK except that we had a little bit of trouble getting there at a different time.  The Blue Line apparently runs significantly slower later in the day than it does at 6:30 in the morning when we are usually on it.  So we missed the bus we wanted to catch, and had to wait around at Jefferson Park for nearly 30 minutes waiting for the next bus.  But the parents were all pretty good to meet with and the worst part of it was that we had to be there until 7pm.

WOW:  This week I compiled my first application and sent it off.  It feels really good to have gotten it all together, and I think it will help me get some other applications in at the beginning of this coming week.  I should really just need to complete the corresponding application forms and write new cover letters, but sometimes schools ask for different things.  I am hoping to be able to do an interview or two over spring break.  I would really like to have a job by graduation, especially since I have to plan my wedding as well as find a job!  It would be good to have one stressful decision made!

The Rest of My Week

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go home for my brother’s wedding.  This was very important to me, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make it work, since my family is from northern Minnesota.  I do not have a car in Chicago, as most Chicago Semester students do not, so getting to northern Minnesota can be extremely challenging.  The way I worked it out was to take the Megabus to Minneapolis and then have my fiancé (who is living in Iowa) pick me up and drive with me the rest of the way to my hometown.  It was fairly complicated, but it worked well to get me home, and I had a really good time with my family.

Also last week another student teacher and I stayed after school to watch some of our students perform in a musical.  I am so glad that we got to go.  It was evident that my students had to put a lot of work into the play and it was really good for me to see them working so hard at something.  It was also evident that it meant a lot to my students that I went.  Several of my students were in the audience on Wednesday night also, so I said, "Hi" to them and they seemed surprised to see me.  I loved seeing them in the show and being able to expand my role at the school.

Once Upon A Mattress