Last Week!

This was my last week of student teaching! I cannot believe it!

I have been so blessed with my placements this year. God put me in places where I was needed and places where I could learn more than I have ever imagined. From teaching in Kenya, to teaching in Cal City, this experience was not what I had expected, but has changed and shaped me as a teacher and person.

This week in school we were doing Science Fair. Most of the days we gave them a chance to work on their project in class. One thing that I am really grateful for is how well my teacher and I work together. If I need to do something like enter grades or finish up testing, she can do whatever else with the rest of the class. If she needs to handle another situation or work on the assembly for next week, I can do any part of the teaching while she works on that. We work so well together and it has started to be to the point where I know what she is thinking. Its weird, but great! I love coteaching and I think that I would love to be in a classroom with two teachers if it went like this placement! :)

So the Science Fair projects were supposed to be done at home, but that didn't quite happen. My teacher bought poster boards for everyone. Less than half of the students did their project at home. We gave them plenty of time, and the final product really paid off. On Friday, my last day, the Science Fair was great. All of the fifth graders got to set up their boards in the lunch rooms and other students came by to see the work they had done.

One thing that really meant a lot to me was one particular student. He has been a bit of a problem in the classroom, only when I am teaching, throughout my time there. I was not in school on Wednesday because I had class and commencement at Trinity. This student was on negative two points for a long time. When I came in on Thursday, he ran up to me before school and said, "Miss Schaap! Guess what? I got 20 points!" He had done his entire science project and it was so good! I was so happy and excited I gave him a high five and he was the best student in class for the next two days. He wrote me a letter and gave it to me on Friday. It said something along the lines of I am sorry for putting you through that, I didn't mean to, and I am sorry. It just made me smile and the whole 9.5 weeks were worth it for those two days!

As I graduate, I feel like I am ready to be a teacher! I can't wait to start and learn even more. I love that we have the summers off to learn more, travel, and become interesting people so we can share this with our students. I look forward to being a teacher. I can't believe its here! :)