Hello out there, I'll be using this blog to track my evolution as a teacher and as a person as I complete the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program at Clark University. For those of you who don't know, I will be student teaching at Sullivan Middle School in my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts. In addition I will be taking seminar classes at Clark four nights a week. It's going to be more work then anything I've done up to this point in my life, but honestly I can't wait. While it was an extremely difficult decision for me on whether or not to enter the Clark MAT program or the STEP program at my undergraduate alma mater Umass Amherst and I know there will be times this year I'll wish I was back in Amherst, I'm thankful that I chose the Clark program as I'm learning so much not only from my classes, but from the different people I've met here so far and know I will continue to learn from them throughout the year.
So far this summer my fellow MATs and I have taken three courses that have completely shifted the way I think about teaching. Before entering the program I had substitute taught at Claremont Academy a public school near Clark in Worcester for a couple of years and absolutely loved it. It not only taught me about the challenges of being a teacher, but introduced me to a grade level (middle school) which I never thought I'd be teaching before and now couldn't imagine not teaching. When I taught at Claremont I thought I had done a pretty good job I filled in for an 8th grade history teacher who had been out for a few months and while it was a challenge to get the students re-focused on history I thought considering the circumstances, I had done well, having them develop their own projects on ancient American civilizations and preparing them for the city wide final exam. After taking these courses however, I have seen how much my teaching can be improved and can't wait for the opportunity to develop as a teacher through both my successes and failures this year.
Monday will be our first day at the schools we've been placed at and I can't wait. While it will be meetings for most of the day and the kids won't be there until Wednesday I'm excited to get a feel for the culture of the school, to learn more about the transformations going on at my school where there is a new principal, and to bond with the staff and my fellow MATs. I'll be helping my mentor teacher for a few weeks at the beginning of school while he gets the students settled in after their summer vacation and teaches them about Christianity, then when that unit is done I'll be taking over my first class, helping them explore ancient Islamic Civilizations. I've been working on this unit the last few weeks and I'm anxious/excited to teach it. I know there will be some things that work and some that don't, but at the end of the day if I can get the kids to understand what I'm trying to get through to them, I'll be a pretty happy camper.
So there it is the start to what should be a roller coaster ride of a school year and I hope you'll stick with me as I explore my life both in and out of the classroom this year.
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