My cadet teacher was KR, a senior at Legacy High School in
Broomfield. K worked in my classroom for
a few hours in the morning Monday through Thursday of each week from January 31
to April 26, 2013. During that time, K
was very active and assumed many responsibilities. It should be noted that our fourth-grade
teaching team “departmentalized” this year, and I was the math, science, and
social studies teacher for two homerooms—55 students in all. There was a wide range of ability levels,
from gifted and talented to significantly below grade level, students on IEPs
and literacy action plans (for below grade-level readers), ELL students, one
autistic student, and one student with severe emotional and behavioral
issues. I did not teach reading and
writing.
K jumped right in on the first day and helped students with
their math. She was able to build a
solid rapport with the students very quickly.
During her time in our classroom, K did the following: observed me teaching; taught a few math
lessons herself (reading a pictograph and estimating products); added valuable
comments during my teaching; co-taught lessons; circulated and helped the
students with math, science, and social studies in both individual and
small-group settings; helped me to set up science experiments; helped prepare
students for TCAP; assisted me in proctoring TCAP; and attended a weekly 4th-grade
team meeting.
I wanted K to see the students taking the TCAP test, but it
didn’t make sense for her to spend two weeks of her time doing so. And because I didn’t explicitly teach
literacy this year, I knew she would benefit from seeing this, too. I arranged for K to work in a second-grade
colleague’s classroom for a few days. K
was able to observe this teacher’s reading groups, read with some students,
helped to set up and manage students working in “centers,” and also did some
quick assessments with students. This
second-grade teacher said that K worked wonderfully with her students, and K
remarked that she enjoyed the experience, too.
Due to the nature of my classroom and the schedule, what K
did most was to circulate and help my students with their math during the
guided and independent practice phases of the lessons. This was invaluable, as it allowed twice as
many students to get individualized help.
This was the first time that I had mentored a cadet teacher,
and it was a very powerful experience for me.
The main reason is because I was K’s fourth-grade teacher nine years
ago. I remember K as a hardworking,
kind, and respectful fourth-grade student.
I was very impressed with what a motivated, responsible, caring, and
confident young woman she has become.
What a rare gift it was for me to see her each day and to get to be her
teacher again, although now in a different way.
I was honored that K had sought me out as the teacher she wanted to do
her cadet teaching experience with. One
of the things I really treasured about this experience was the deep
conversations we had about teaching, in general, as well as processing events
and situations that occurred each day.
K has no illusions about the teaching profession and some of
the challenges that she will face. Her
mother is a teacher and her father is a school counselor. K has spent hundreds and hundreds of hours
helping out in her mother’s classrooms growing up. This has helped her to develop good teaching
instincts that were in evidence during her cadet teaching experience. We had many candid conversations about the
challenges of teaching today and nothing was sugarcoated.
K simply has the drive and enthusiasm to be a fantastic
teacher. During one of her final days
in our classroom, K said to me, “I can’t wait to have my own classroom.” I believe this young woman was born to teach,
and I know she will have a profound influence on her students, colleagues, and
families. I know I can honestly say that
this experience has had a profound effect on me.
