Dear Younger Self,
So, you are about to start the
education program. You are still wondering
about whether or not you still want to be a teacher. Let me put your mind at ease. You will!
But before you begin your new journey, I want to give you some advice.
You will soon begin observing in
classrooms. Sometimes this will be a
positive experience and sometimes you will wonder how a certain teacher has
survived so long. My advice to you: take copious amounts of notes! Buy an observation journal and take notes
over things that you think work in a classroom and also take notes over things
that went horribly. I did not take great
notes during my first round of observations and I still regret it to this day.
You will begin to feel
overwhelmed during your second semester in the program. It will be FINE! You have a full time job and you are going to
school full time. On top of that, you
will have to be in your placement, one to two times a week. I just want to put your mind at ease – you
will be FINE! You will not die from the
stress and you will still maintain your 4.0.
Your pre-student teaching
semester will be your hardest semester of your college career. You will still be working full-time and you
will have to attend your placement two to three times a week. This will be extremely overwhelming because,
on top of your busy work schedule, you will have to plan and teach a unit. This will also be the semester where you will
be formally observed by Katie Mason. The
night before your observation, you will be so nervous because you think that
your lesson is garbage. Relax! Katie Mason gives you great feedback and your
confidence in yourself will be restored.
Your student teaching semester
will be the greatest experience of your entire college career. I know that you are worried about your
ability but you will be great. You will
need to step down from your management position at your job and this gives you
some anxiety but this will be the greatest decision you will make. You will want to focus all of your attention
and energy on your teaching. Make sure
you save as much money as you can before
your student teaching semester so you will not have to worry about how your are
going to live.
Lastly, do not worry about the
dreaded KPTP. You will rock it with a
perfect score! Don’t be so surprised
with this score because you know more than you think you do. My one piece of advice for the KPTP: don’t wait until spring break to start most
of it. This will save you from wanting
to die from the stress.
Finally, I want you to know that
you are great and you should stop doubting your own abilities. You have insanely high expectations for
yourself. Stop being so hard on yourself
because you will get an open contract with the district in February and you
will get a job at the end of March.
Someone must think you are pretty good.
Good luck!
