Both the STUDENT and TEACHER (yikes)

It is possible to be both the student and teacher but difficult nonetheless. These roles are married within TEP Secondary ED but like any relationship there are ups and downs and constant tension. More and more I have found myself prioritizing one of the other, nine times out of ten being a teacher tends to trump being a student. While engaging in self development can only be beneficial for your students it’s easy to get lost in the sauce with the many duties of a teacher. There are times where I find myself feeling hypocritical when I forego my reading but badger my students about submitting homework. Now that I teach my respect for public school teachers has grown tremendously who knew the ridiculous amount of layers they have to maintain. There are management duties that one must carry out that include but are not limited to: attendance, grading, make-up work; Interpersonal duties: parent phone calling, classroom culture development, student relationship building; and last but not least intense intellectual work which include prioritizing, synthesizing, organizing, presenting then reflecting. Since I’ve taken over my first class the focus has been on the intellectual aspect but I intend to start engaging in more relationship building with both parents and students. But (as there is always a but!) this is difficult because there are literally only so many hours in the day, and I have come to utilize 20 of them. Teaching from the am to afternoon, then taking courses at Penn in the pm and of course preparing to do it all over again when the pm and am transition. As a student teacher one may find that their brain does not EVER turn off, nor do you ever stop planning. Even when actively involved in something one is already calculating what the next ten moves need to be.  The moral of the story is student teaching is HARD and perhaps one of the hardest, yet very fulfilling things I’ve done. Speaking of “morals” more to come on the constant moral decisions of a teacher.