Prepared to Teach?

One thing I find interesting about being a student teacher is the almost continuous stream of thoughts that run through your head about what kind of a teacher you will become. It can happen at any time - when you're at Uni sitting in a lecture, when you're completing an assignment, when you're trying to get to sleep... The interesting thing about it is how one day you might be really positive, thinking about how good you're going to be, how you will always be planning engaging lessons that cater to the diverse needs of students, how you will use effective assessment to set up every student in your class for success. Sometimes the mood is completely different, where you get this sinking feeling of "what am I getting myself into?"

I'm one of those people who have experienced that 'calling' towards teaching as a profession. I remember back to when I was five or six, pretending to run classrooms with my brother and cousins, always taking those leadership roles throughout school. It's always been teaching without any question or critical thought, because it's just a part of who I am, as opposed to the result of a particular experience. I remember in Year 8 changing how I wrote the letter 'a' back to the standard South Australian format because I knew that I'd have to write it that way when I was in the classroom. Of course there are other important things in my life that I know I can take up professionally after I've been teaching for a while (photography, web design etc.) but teaching has always been my main focus.  

Teaching as a profession does scare me. It's exciting and challenging but above all it's scary. I know that in 2010 I'll be teaching but I have no idea where, or how I will get there, or how much effort I'll have to put in to get there. I might be doing some TRT work. How will I get all my resources together to do that? I think in 2010 I'll lose my life, without any time to do anything fun, or watch TV, or sleep for that matter. Some days when I'm not doing much I feel almost guilty (the guilt directed at my future self) for not doing as much as I can now to be absolutely prepared for those first years out. It's unfair, I don't think any other degree has the same 'heaviness' as teaching (Why is everything in the future so heavy? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?)

Being a student teacher you may find that you can never do enough to prepare you for what is coming. Not that you're quite sure what you're preparing yourself for. Will it be as bad as I think it will sometimes?

Tags: student teacher university
Posted at 01:51PM Aug 30, 2008 by Catherine Vawser  |  Comments[0]