... drumroll please...

well for the first time this year, our teaching placements were posted more than 2 days in advance... shocking indeed. We have two observation days thursday and friday of next week - days when we literally observe the classroom routines and learn as much about the class as possible b4 having to teach.

I have a grade 4 class in a catholic school in windsor - near the super expensive area called St. Clair beach. A little intimidating, since I am familiar with the area after driving through it to gawk at the huge houses with Jeremy when we first moved here. We took a drive along the riverfront to explore and realized that apparently windsor does have multimilliion dollar homes - they're all hiding in one little area. Not sure how well i'll fit in that type of environment - hopefully my associate is a nice person.

For those of you who aren't a part of teacher's college or have not had anybody close to you go through the process - this is the most nerve wracking part. Walking into a complete stranger's classroom to teach students who will try their best to take advantage of the fact that you are a student teacher and not a "real" teacher. Luckily I've had some great associates who have gone out of their way to not only welcome me to the class, but also make sure I was respected as a teacher. Sure made things easier...
So we have to worry about our new associates - will they be nice? will they be helpful and offer feedback when we need it? will they let us use their classroom materials or do we need to spend our own money for lesson? will we agree with their management techniques?
I've experienced the full range of responses to these questions - but have had a great time throughout. We simply get the best experience when we are on placement. Actually writing lesson plans, managing students, and teaching classes is the best education we can get. Just like people who do co-ops for college.

In teacher's college, the associate teachers give us assessments that literally determine whether or not we will graduate from the program. Have a bad placement or relationship with an associate teacher? that can lead to biiiig trouble. We have faculty advisors who also come out to watch us teach and grade us too. They're also meant to help us in the event that we have trouble with an associate teacher or with the school itself. Some student teachers have actually been ordered out of the school and asked to never return. This is where advisors step in to try and fix things or get them into a different place.

so as the usual questions jump into my mind about the new place i'll be teaching - this time up to 100% - i think it's time to stop writing or I could probably go forever.