Classroom Continuum

I was just thinking about LeAnne, a student I taught during my student teaching experience in Olympia, Washington during the second year of my teacher training program. One day in class LeAnne looked at me and said, "Ms. Delia, you missed your calling in life." "How so?" I asked." "Well," she explained, "I think you were supposed to be a social worker." I smiled at her and said, "I am." 

LeAnne was in my thoughts this week because I have been giving out a tremendous amount of advice and support to my second year students during my observations of their student teaching. I feel like part-cheerleader, part-counselor, part-supervisor, part-body guard, and part-police officer. Tonight one student told me, "you have become very philosophical." I told him, "I am a fountain of philosophy." 

I have spent many hours this week taking meticulous notes during my students' lessons and then providing analysis and recommendations. I also complete a rubric with the key areas I want them to focus on mastering. So far, my students are demonstrating a great deal of courage, charisma, and effort. Of course, there is much room for improvement, but that is what makes this process so important.

While observing my students I went through a complete range of emotions. I felt great pride as I watched one of my most shy, polite students become an assertive, commanding and respectful teacher. It was incredible to see him successfully take on a different role. 

I cringed to watch an entire hour-long lesson where my trainee barely said 30 words, which were spoken in a nearly inaudible voice. It was a new way of teaching, called "the silent teacher." Fortunately, this trainee was open to the feedback and requested a "do-over." The second lesson of the day showed a dramatic improvement. It was inspiring to see this transformation practically happen before my eyes. 

One of the students said, "This week was much better than last week, I think because of your feedback. Can you come next week?" I felt the value of my presence too, the lessons got better and better as the day moved on. It was incredibly rewarding to see my students maximize the learning potential of their own experiences as well as the experiences of their peers. I think my feedback has provided a sort-of crystallization for my students, where they finally saw their actions through the perspective of an outsider and were forced to acknowledge that some of their lesson delivery and design did not meet the needs of the 50 teenagers sitting in front of them. Now they have to reach within themselves to become the effective teachers that they want to be.

Tonight while I was preparing for my class tomorrow, I came across this quote and it seemed like the perfect message for today: "A leader is best when we hardly know he exists. When his work is done, his aim is fulfilled, his followers will say, "We did this ourselves!" -Lao Tzu

I have come a long way from my student teaching days (see the picture above from the first semester of my teacher training program) but I know that I have much further to go to reach my own potential and be the teacher, mentor, leader that I want to become.