Teaching: I'm a big kid now!

Wow, I can not believe that I am actually student teaching! It is almost like a surreal experience because it just doesn't seem like I am old enough to be a teacher. Sometimes I find myself joking around with my students and then remembering that I am the teacher, the authority figure, and I need to act that way... ha ha, I still just feel like a big kid.

The students overall are pretty awesome. I am amazed with the things that these students have to go through. The last couple weeks my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Black, has told me the different stories these students have and I am amazed at what they deal with in everyday life. It has made me so grateful for my upbringing and it makes me want to help these kids as much as I can. I've been able to try to form some sort of relationships with some of them and I think I am doing OK so far but I need to do better.

I was surprised at the amount of gang activity that is in my school. I teach at Benion Junior High which is actually a nicer school than the ones my roommates are teaching at. On Wednesday there was a shooting at Kearns High School just a couple miles down the road. It was gang related and the student that got shot died. You would think being in Utah this wouldn't be a prevalent but it is and it is an eye opener for me. A lot of my students are in gangs and don't care much about school, I'm gonna try as hard as I can to get through to them.

I've also noticed how important it is to use the spirit as I deal with these students. It's not like I tell them about it but the spirit really does help in knowing what a student needs. It's just more motivation to be close to the spirit in everything I do.

I start officially taking over the class next week and can't wait. I'll be starting the Latin America unit! 9th graders sure are interesting!