Student Teaching - Week #7

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School

Life in the City

I’m figuring out that the life of a student teacher is no walk in the park. Sure, I could always go walk in the park, but I hardly think that would solve the dilemmas I am faced with. Dilemmas like when I’ll get to sleep, how I’ll have a life outside of school and homework, how to decide between attending extracurricular activities as the high school and having time to do my own thing. My cooperating teacher tells me I’m lucky I’m single, I’m the only one I have to figure into my life plans. I suppose she’s right.

So I prioritize; I decide what can wait, and I make time for experiences. Like Thursday when I skipped going to the homecoming football game to go see a play, perhaps the best play I’ve seen in years. The Arts Event this week was “33 Variations” by Moises Kaufman. Centered around Beethoven and his 33 variations of Diabelli’s waltz, the play follows not only Beethoven’s journey to write the music, but also a woman 200 years later trying to figure out why he was so obsessed with such a small piece of music. It was a moving, heartbreaking play delving into issues like family bonds, love, and slow decay. Words cannot describe this play adequately, so I’m going to stop trying. Do I feel guilty for missing the football game? Kind of, but I think the kids forgive me.



The life of a student teacher: coffee shops and unit plans



The past couple of nights I have been exiling myself to coffee shops in order to get work done. It works, most of the time. Last night was Starbucks, tonight the Bourgeois Pig (great name for a coffee shop, isn’t it?). It’s such a pain to have to leave my apartment to get anything accomplished, but it tends to be how I do work best. Slightly problematic for the budget, but I’ve never been one to keep a real tight budget.

Life in the Classroom

It’s been homecoming this week. Strangest homecoming I’ve ever been a part of. Never a good thing when the weird student teacher is one of the few dressed up for spirit week. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t dress up like a fool if given the chance. Then again, I really don’t care what people think about me, so that probably is a huge contributing factor.

Homecoming Panther guarding our classroom door

Amongst all the chaos that is Chicago Public Schools this year, I find myself becoming more and more aware that the students are becoming my constant. I never know what is going on in the school or the district, but I always know that there will be a classroom full of freshmen that more times than not, are not so willing to learn. It is opposite of how I expected it to be; usually we think of the classroom being the constant factor in the student’s lives, not the other way around. It’s reassuring to see most of the same 140 faces every day.

And every day as I collect papers or answer the same question for the 10^th time, I am reminded that this is not a job someone does on a whim. It takes true passion to be a teacher. Notice I didn’t say ‘to teach,’ I said ‘to be a teacher.’ Because being a teacher encompasses so much more than lesson plans and standing in front of a classroom. It means that I carry those faces and stories home with me every night, sometimes full of heartbreak, sometimes full of joy. It means that the “ah-ha”moment I witnessed means so much more than the kid trash talking me behind my back. It means the twelve hours I spent creating the unit plan overview is all worth it when I see how the students figure out how to use their voice. This is not a passion everyone has, and I’m just relieved that as of yet, I seem to have it.