Ahh eight weeks off. Or more like “off”. While I am very excited at this stretch of time ahead of me to relax and hopefully begin planning, I thought I should also take some time to reflect on my first teaching assignment.
I was extremely lucky in my internship to not only have a great co-operating teacher at a wonderful school, but to also connect with other really amazing educators. I was able to spend a lot of time subbing in the classes at that school and when it came time for one of the teachers to take a (planned) leave, it was me who she wanted to run the classroom while she was away.
This opportunity was literally a dream come true for me. I had always admired this teacher and felt like her classroom was what I aspire mine to be; it was warm, welcoming, calm, and organized. It also didn’t hurt that the kids were a truly incredible group.
Coming into a classroom at the end of the year (the last 7 weeks of school) was very interesting. Planning was pretty easy, again thanks to the regular classroom teacher’s organization, we mostly carried on with projects already on the go and as those wrapped up I was able to introduce some of my own ideas. The end of the year also bring a ton of outside the classroom activities, maybe even especially so with grade 8 students who will be transitioning to high school next year. Plans were constantly being adjusted to ensure that students had ample work time as well as outcomes that needed to be met were being met. One aspect of end of the year teaching that I don’t think I was exactly prepared for is how high energy students are. They (and we) can feel the end near. The weather is warm, there are all these fun things happening, the countdown is on. In 7 weeks our room had 3 seating plans. Two planned, the third happened on the fly. The third worked best by far.
I got to do a lot of pretty cool things for a first time teacher. I took on SRC, as I was involved during internship with the teacher who’s leave I was covering, and got to run a whole school dance. I was able to plan a Play Day for the K-4 students with the SRC and my classroom. I facilitated a BreakoutEDU, spent a day at Sherwood Forest and an afternoon watching bowling, battled another class at Capture the Flag in the park, had slurpees and sundaes, and competed against my kids in many Kahoot quizzes all in the last week after report cards were due.
While some days those kids drove me crazy, there was never a day that someone didn’t make me smile or more likely make me laugh like crazy. I am so sad not to be returning to those kids in the fall, and I will always remember how lucky I was in my very first teaching assignment.
Thank you so much to Mrs. Klein and her 7/8 class of 2016/2017.
Jen Chyz
Mrs. Chyz's Classroom 