Kristin L

After an extremely long and grueling summer, I am back in the classroom. This time, I am finally finishing up my certification at Stockton, and I am very excited. I know my Dad is rather excited too, mainly because he can stop financing my education, and watch me put it to use.

Currently, I just began my student teaching experience. I am extremely lucky, I have been placed with two amazing teachers who clearly love their craft. Time will tell how it goes, but for right now, I’m optimistic. Can’t wait to get to know these students and try and get them interested!

It’s been quite some time since I last blogged on this site. Unfortunately, it seems that we only keep up with these because they are requirements for class, however, I really like this site. In any case, I finished my last fieldwork assignment in Northfield. I was in a 7th grade classroom and just had the greatest teacher and experience. It didn’t hurt that the kids were wonderful as well. In any case, I’m off to do my student teaching in September and I can’t wait. Now, just a long summer at Mack and Manco. I had a great semester though, what a tough semester, but all worth it.

Well I am upset to admit that we lost our championship basketball game in the last 3o seconds. The other team just played better that night, and we lost by 2. Just when I thought I was disapointed, I looked to my kids. Each and every one of them was crying at the end of the game. This was something I was completely unprepared for, and at that very second, I sucked up my disapointment and focused my energy on cheering these kids up and making sure they knew how great they are. This was one of the first times in my life (looking back) that I remember a specific time where I had to be a grown-up and had to not focus on how I was feeling, and think about someone else. At the end of the night I felt good, because we lost, and we handled it, and when the kids walked out of the gym all of them had smiles on their faces. Hopefully this is just the first of many similar experiences to come in the world of teaching. I must admit, it felt good.

I have ALWAYS wanted to be a coach. I don’t know where the idea came from, maybe from previous coaches. I’ve definitely had some good ones, but I also had some really bad ones. Either way, I know I love playing sports, and I love kids. So, teaching kids how to play sports is definitely something I want to do. I was fortunate enough to be asked to help coach this year’s basketball recreation league. It took me a long time to get used to coaching, get to know the kids, and effectively communicate, but now I know I’m good at it, and I love doing it. Keep in mind that I am coaching 9 and 10 year old boys, so learning how to play basketball from a 23 year old girl was already a bit of an obstacle. Also, I’ve never done this before in my life, so it was challenging. I am happy to report, however, that our team finished in first place AND on Wed. night we play in the championship game, I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

The Education Department at Stockton requires that a student must first take the course Educational Psychology in order to become accepted. So, along with my other necessary courses, I am taking Ed Psych–I also have to observe a teacher in action for 4o hours this semester. I have spent the last two weeks observing a teacher at Lower Cape May Regional High School and he is wonderful. I know I will be a different person after the next few weeks.