Student Teaching - Introduction

Student Teaching - Introduction

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School

Life in the City

The architectural boat tour

For those of us lucky enough to find ourselves living in Chicago this semester, we are pulling up on our five week anniversary in the city. If the rest of the CS students are like me, that reality is surprising. It doesn’t seem like that long ago we were being taught how to use the public transit system and being warned about pick-pockets. For all those parents reading this, as far as I know, nothing like that has happened, so don’t worry.

Fall is setting in, the air is much cooler than when we first moved in. We are no longer dying from lack of air conditioning, but that does not mean we were ready for the apartment building to turn on the heating units yet (luckily, they turned them off again).

Life in the Classroom

I get to spend student teaching at Kelvyn Park High School. Kelvyn Park is located in the Hermosa neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago in an area predominately populated with Hispanic people. The culture of the school is rich in Hispanic heritage, with murals depicting vibrant scenes gracing the walls of the old building.

Mural outside the school

My placement is in a freshmen Content Area Literacy classroom, where we help the students learn the reading skills that they need for all the classes they will have throughout high school and college. It has been an interesting ride so far. Walking into Kelvyn the first day, I had no idea where I’d be placed, but it has worked out to be a great fit for me. I didn’t expect to love hanging out with freshmen so much, so I have been pleasantly surprised at how easily I’ve found my place there.

With Chicago Semester friends on the beach

Granted, this has been a bizarre school year. The strike that happened the first week and a half of school threw us all for a giant loop, one that we haven’t quite recovered from. On the calendar, we are technically coming up on a month of school, but we’ve actually only been in the classroom for twelve days, as of Friday night. It has been a struggle to find our footing and rhythm so far this year, but it is getting so much easier to find the beat every day. I’m just grateful for the chance to attempt to join in the dance.