It's almost the end

Well folks we're down to the wire. This week went by very fast and we finished up the last portion of PSSA testing. It's definitely been stressful for me as I try to finish up my unit and grade everything that I have and get it back to the students. I wish that I had just a little more time so I didn't feel so rushed. Either that or more energy. The week went pretty well and my co-op didn't spend a lot of time in the classroom in an effort to give me some time to really be all by myself. I appreciated that because while getting feedback was important, I also feel having time to be by myself in the classroom is important as well. To echo what I'm sure everyone else is saying, I can't believe it's almost over. It just doesn't seem possible. I've learned so much through this experience about how to teach, what to teach, classroom management, the way teenagers act, and a lot about myself in general. I've also learned that I feel bad when I give out bad grades but that some students don't pay attention and include what they're supposed to or turn their stuff in on time so bad grades become unavoidable. Mostly I've found that I worry that my instruction wasn't good enough and that something I did caused them to do poorly. Probably one of hte biggest things I've learned through this opinion of my work is that I'm harder on myself than anyone else. A teacher doesn't always have to be perfect and sometimes lessons and units aren't going to work out as well as we'd like them to and that's okay. You just have to learn from it and try to help your students with what isn't clicking for them. I hope for my last week that I can enjoy myself, my students, and my colleagues, get all my work done, and not have a mental breakdown. Good luck to all of you in your last week and, if I don't see you in all teh graduation craziness next week congratulations and goodluck.