What They Don’t Teach You in Graduate School
By anders46 | March 12, 2013
The first day in a classroom can be a nerve wracking experience; what will the students think of me? Will I ruin the minds of these bright-eyed children and have parents picketing the school asking for my immediate dismissal not only from the school but the entire field of education? Even though graduate school does a good job preparing students for the theoretical sense of teaching, no one can really prepare you for the concrete jungle they call elementary school.
A recent story comes to mind during a grade 6 First Nations Storytelling lesson I was conducting. I prepared thoroughly, and eagerly I began teaching. My anticipatory set hooked the students to the lesson they were about to learn, and we were in the middle of group work when one of the Educational Assistants approached me. “Um, Mrs. Anderson?” “Yes?” I replied, with my greatest teacher inquiry-voice. “Some of the boys are giggling” she said. “Oh, boys! I sure know what they’re like!” I stated smugly, feeling on top of the world. ”I’ll be over there in a minute; is everything okay?” The EA replied quietly, “Well, one of the boys is getting the others to ask you questions so you’ll bend over and they can look down your top”.
Or the discussion I had with another grade 6 student: “Mrs. Anderson, I don’t know anything about plankton”. “Well, Colin, read the description on your sheet”. “Okay” he reads, “Plankton is a single-celled orgasm”.
One of my peers relayed the story of how her grade 1 class misspelled the word country in a writing lesson; needless to say, there were some revisions made to final drafts prior to parent/teacher night.
And just when you think you’ve nailed this thing called teaching, another joke about Uranus comes up. Good times.
Topics: Childhood Education | Comments Off
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