This is totally Rob. Yep. (Creative Commons)
Five weeks. Five weeks in the middle of the semester I was gone and not one of you even noticed I was away. Did you guys even send a note to the Editor asking, “Hey where did that Rob guy go? He was so funny and charming. I really liked the way he articulated his words and focused on those sports articles he’s done for the past four years.”
For shame on you. Here I go, 900 kilometers away and y’all can’t even send a ‘welcome back’ gift basket for my hypothetical future family and I. Why do I even keep coming back here to write?
Well, guess what readers? I am back on campus and ready to start my second four-week stint of university classes. I was recently out of town for my journey into the world of student teaching placement. This was my first step into the career of teaching, and my first taste of what a day in the life of a teacher is like. My placement itself will largely be talked about in Part 2 of this series, so if you are unable to follow along with the epic stories of Friends or the Star Wars series, this article probably isn’t for you. I advise all to advert their gazes, as BU’s insurance policy doesn’t cover blown minds.
Here is a little background information on me and some clues on how I got to where I am in my life: I am in the Education After Degree Program. I completed my undergrad here in Brandon and now travel about 100 meters north of where I used to attend classes.
The Ed. program begins in September and kicks off with a three day orientation. We then spend the next four weeks sitting through lessons in the Education Building. The classes provide us with info regarding psychology, legal situations and everything you can be fired for, classroom management and different instructional methods to use while teaching kids. The first few weeks you meet some awesome people and discover a lot about yourself and the profession of education!
Come October though, it’s time to test what you’ve learned, in what I like to call the sink or flounder method. You are thrown into water (a random classroom) with your swim trunks (the preparation from university) and expected to sink (fail at teaching) or flounder (kind of survive at teaching). See, the only issue is swim trunks are nice for covering up but aren’t really that practical in regards to keeping you afloat. It’s not until you’ve gotten to flounder around long enough that you start to gather material to float on by yourself. This is more of a topic I will touch on in the next issue.
Tune in next week to find out what actually happens out on teaching placement and how yours truly, survived the experience. I will be gathering quotes from my peers and colleagues and giving you the most in depth information we can about our experiences out in the real world.