Getting ready to go full-time.

This week marks my last week of only teaching 2 classes. This coming Monday I will officially be into my full-time teaching and I'm sure it will be hectic for the first couple of days. I am picking up 3 English 9 Honors classes, so that'll mean I'm teaching 5 classes total. I am feeling pretty comfortable with the regular English 9 classes, but my anxiety is certainly kicking in for the Honors classes. I'm nervous about the rigorous pace of the Honors classes. I do, however, think I can manage.

Within my two weeks of only teaching 2 classes, I've began to see just how much work goes into teaching! Aside from planning lessons, I have to create all of the materials that I want to use (unless my mentor has them on file), grade papers, keep up with my action research, and still find time to breathe. It is becoming a bit overwhelming and I can feel myself becoming exhausted. However, I feel that this learning experience is so beneficial. I've already learned so much this semester and it's only the 4th week of school! My mentor teacher has really shown me how to deal with issues that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to deal with. She's really opened her classroom and her resources to me and I cannot thank her enough. She has imparted some great advice and I truly appreciate that!

These past few weeks have shown me that I have already progressed in my abilities as a teacher. Just today I surprised myself with my progress. In 2nd period I have a student who has an IEP. He's very bright, but cannot stay organized and never wants to write anything down. I'm not sure of his exact disability, but he seems to me like he may be autistic. Anyways, he didn't want to do the assignment that I'd given him which was to write a creative story about a setting that he'd already chosen randomly out of a hat. His setting was the frozen tundra. He sat at his desk and did nothing when I gave students time in class to complete the writing. So, I went up to him and asked him what the problem was. He told me that he had no idea what to write about. I know that he's super into videogames so I suggested he write about that. He wasn't satisfied with that. He didn't have any details of the game. So, I opened the laptop and told him to find some information. He looked on the internet for a while and then when I checked in on him, he'd told me that he could now perform the task at hand. Of course class was about over, so I told him that he'd have to complete it for homework. Whether he does or not, I'm not sure. He usually doesn't turn anything in when it's supposed to be homework. However, I felt that I had really helped him relate to his interests within my assignment. I tried to reach out to him and I think he saw what I was trying to do and hopefully he respects me for it. The progression in myself is evident because last semester, I would not have known what to do in such a situation!