Darned kids....

Right now I'm doing my student teaching to fufill my last graduation requirement. It's tiring and stressful at times, but I've gained a lot of great experience and I think I can actually handle this teaching thing now.

I just started a golf unit with my 9th graders, and the other day one of the boys said to me, "Hey, you're a really great coach! Are you trying out to be a teacher or something? You'll pass for sure. You're great at teaching." Man.... I love it when they say stuff like that! I'll usually get a compliment like that maybe once every week. It pretty much makes up for most of the complaining and goofing off that they do. After a hectic tennis lesson one of my girls said, "that was really fun, thank you." I had to do a double take to see who was talking to me because I couldn't believe she was being serious! Sometimes it's hard to believe that your students appreciate you, but I guess they do, deep down :) --well, at least some of them do. One of my ninth grade boys has a crush on me. He follows me around and talks and talks and talks... trying to be funny, of course. He actually is a pretty funny kid. Sometimes, though, I have to say, "Ok, that's nice Jordan... now get outta my face!" That's what I want to say at least.

My 7th graders are funny. I have them won right over--"Are you our new teacher? why do you have to leave?? You're my favorite substitute-non-substitute teacher, even though you're the only one I've ever had." They definitely have their own challenges, but they're fun for the most part. I have a couple of brats, and my third period makes me want to tear up my lesson plan and shoot something some days, but overall it's pretty enjoyable. And like I said, the cute comments make up for most of the management issues.... What can I say? I can't help but like having 70+ little admirers, even if they're brats.

Pet peeve though---- My name is not "Teacher." For some reason "Miss Prestwich" is really hard to remember. Maybe about half of them remember my name... which makes me not feel as bad about forgetting their names. But seriously, "teacher! teacher! teacher!" gets so annoying. I'm lucky if I can even get some of them to call me "Miss P." Mrs. P works too I guess, even though I'm certainly not married to any Prestwiches! Early on in the semester, after I introduced myself and told them I was engaged, one of my 9th grade girls asked me what my fiance's last name was. I told her it was John. A few weeks later I hear, "uhhh... miss.... what's her name?" "I don't know" "Uh, Mrs. John??" Haha... I thought that was pretty funny.

I'm almost done with the school that I'm at (Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi). In about 2 weeks I'll be switching to Springville High School. High schoolers--scary! I'll be starting my coaching internship then, too. (Assuming I find an internship before the basketball season starts). A change will be good. I love working with my cooperating teacher at Willowcreek, but I'm starting to feel tired of the whole student teaching thing. Full-time work without pay (while paying tuition) gets old after a while. As much as I love my students at Willowcreek, I think I'd love it more if they were actually my students in my class. We'll see how this Springville thing goes... and then I'm done!!!! And I'll be getting married!!!!!! :D