We are two weeks into November and the business has surprised me. The next three weeks of school will be even more busy. I have major assignments that are due, lessons to plan and a lot of reflecting.
It is not so much that these assignments are long and difficult, but that the material and content is new for me. As a student in the Faculty of Arts, I had the choice. I had an array of classes and topics to choose from. I moulded my degree to what I wanted it to be. So, I became an English Major who minored in Religious Studies with a concentration in Creative Writing.
Now that I am an Education student, things are a bit different. My classes are picked out for me. My semester is arranged into tidy little classes with an internship here, some field work there, an entire practicum semester over there. My choice is gone and, although it irritates me somewhat, I also enjoy the structure.
My first semester as an education student has been thus far, at least for me as an after-degree student, about learning the education lingo. For example: outcomes and indicators, inquiry learning, classroom management, targets, assessment and evaluation, lesson planning, adaptive dimension, multiple intelligences and blooms taxonomy. Now, after learning only some of the terminology I have a better idea of what this is about but I still have nagging questions, lingering questions and, worse, doubts about myself as a future teacher.
Can I really do this?
I must admit, I was terrified walking into my field placement that first day back in October. I took the bus to Glen Elm school in the east end, walked a block over with each step bringing me closer to these real students and teachers that I've never met before. It would no longer be theory. It would no longer be something I read about and planned for. I wanted to turn around. But, instead, I walked in to that school, found the staff room and my co-operating teacher and went on with the rest of my day.
It wasn't so bad. In fact, so far, so good.
