Last Monday I picked up my Honors 10 essays on Frankenstein. My goal was to grade them all by Friday, and I'm happy to say I did! I felt very impressive, and my students thought I was bluffing when I started handing them back! :) What beautiful minds my sophomores have! I can't begin to express my pride after reading their essays... Their language and philosophies mark that of much older and wiser students, and it was in all honesty a pleasure to read all 58 of them! The lowest grade any student earned was an 86%!!!! Pretty darn impressive!
I've been teaching a full load of classes since the beginning of March, and let me tell you it is beginning to take its toll! I leave for school everyday at 7:00am, and seldom (if ever) return home before 5:30pm. The real kicker is that as soon as I'm home and grabbed a quick bite to eat, I'm right back to planning and grading. This semester has been such an authentic experience, and I'm so glad to know I've chosen the perfect profession!
Just before returning my Honors 10 essays of Friday afternoon, I collected another batch of essays from my regular English 10 classes. These essays are compare and contrast of two characters from different literary works. The students were able to choose from any of the characters in Night or in any of the short stories we've been reading for the past three weeks. All of this semester has been focused on tolerance, so that is the overarching theme to their essay. If we're being completely honest, it's 8:19pm on Sunday night, and I haven't so much as opened that folder!
On Saturday afternoon I took my (final?!) Praxis exam, the PLT (principles of learning and teaching). After that I quickly got gussied up, and headed to the prom! That's right! As a barely 21 year old student teacher, I volunteered to help chaperone the prom! I have to say that though the night was long, it was a fabulous and fun experience. Though I don't have many juniors, I do know a handful of the seniors and it was nice to see them all dressed to the nines! Prom ended at midnight, and after a speedy clean up with the other chaperones, I headed to a local establishment (read: bar) with my colleagues! Needless to say, I did not have anything to drink, but it was still a very adult experience and I'm glad they included me :)
With only three weeks left of my student teaching, I'm already starting to feel the melancholy. Though I wouldn't trade my experience for the world, I know that April 30 will (most likely) involve tears on my part. Tears that I've learned so much. Tears that I've wanted to kick myself in the butt. Tears that my students want to know when I'll be back to visit. But most of all, tears that my short time has added something to the lives of my students.
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