Practical Student Teaching

On the first of every month, I have invited a different veteran teacher to write a letter of advice; sharing his/her experience and wisdom so that you and I can become better teachers.

These letters are all part of my new series called Time 2 Teach. In June, I will be hosting a weekly linky party in addition to the letters. I hope you will join me!

Dear Misty,

Student teaching is so fun!  You are going to learn a lot & practice a lot but don’t forget to have fun too.

I thought long and hard about what advice a student teacher might need to know, something that would make your life easier.  It was a hard decision but I finally came to the realization that it was time for a reality check.

When your student teaching you are learning so much, doing so much and extending yourself in ways you never knew you could.  It’s fun, it’s challenging but at the same time the rest of your life is still going on.  Your kids needs to be fed & clothed.  They are going to get sick.  Your toilet is still going to get clogged and your hot water heater is still going to overflow. And your husband is still going to want to see you once in a while even though he’s now stuck with figuring out how to do the grocery shopping and go to work.

So what’s a person to do?  It’s impossible to plan for everything, right!

Of course it is…but you remember how I told you that routines keep the day sane at school.  Certain things the students can count on everyday.  It’s the same at home, you can keep your sanity by establishing routines so that you can weather any storm in stride.  Below are a few suggestions that I used while student teaching so I didn’t have to expend too much brain power on the little things and could focus my energies on the big things:

1. I planned out a months worth of meals.  I had a master shopping list by week that my husband could grab, check off what was already in the house and quickly get the rest.  Yes, I know the variety issue but for the time being…no thinking about meals.

2. All the meals during the week could be cooked in a crockpot or were quick meals that could be made by children if neccessary.

3. Nightly routines…if I was cooking a crockpot meal the night before I made sure that it was prepared and in the fridge for the morning.  That way when I left I just had to grab it out, throw it on and run out the door.  I then made sure everything I needed was by the front door so I could grab and go.  (note: I highly suggest a rolling cart…I kept grading and lesson planning materials in my cart and it went back and forth to & from school every night.  This allowed me to work in small chunks on next weeks  plans throughout the week.  At my school we met as a team on Thursdays.  We would spend about 15 minutes reviewing our plans for the next week and tweaking as needed)

4. Clothing: I had 5 outfits + 2 play outfits for the weekend.  The kids had the same.  On Saturday we washed all the weekly clothes then put the outfits in the closets.  That way every morning we had what we needed already prepared for the week.  (Note: I had a couple of extra outfits tucked in the back for emergencies…you know the weekend when everything went haywire and the laundry didn’t get done.)

5. Take everything moment by moment & trust that you will make it through and you will Shine.  So 1/2 way through student teaching my hot water heater broke, my dishwasher broke and 3 of my 4 kids all got sick at the same time.  Stuff happens & it will for you too.  Just be prepared to take a deep breath…take baby steps each day and all will work out in it’s time.  (remember the signing time video “shine”  at the end the song reads “And they’ll do it in their own time”

With that I’ll leave you with this: