To Teach is to Learn

Me on my first day of student teaching!!

It's finally that time...not to do spring cleaning, get married, lose weight, buy a car, or anything else normal, but to do something rad and...STUDENT TEACH!!

Last week was my first week student teaching Health and PE at Maple Mountain High School. It is a brand new school built last year in Spanish Fork with about 1,000 sophomores, juniors and seniors. My mentor teacher is Ms. Hall, who is awesome. At first, I was pretty intimidated, but I am grateful to get the chance to learn from such a knowledgeable, outstanding and cool teacher. I have really enjoyed getting to meet the students and learn how to apply all of methods I've learned in the teaching classes I have taken in combination with the Health and PE content classes I've taken. However, I have felt very ill-prepared for PE. One of my minors is PE/Coaching, and let's just say that the emphasis was on coaching in the classes I took. Nonetheless, Coach Hall is a PE queen and is helping me learn a lot.

I got to teach my first class last week on Friday!! Oftentimes, mentor teachers will either not let a student teacher teach for a long while, or just peace out and leave the student teacher in charge of their class so they don't have to teach. I am grateful that Ms. Hall hasn't fit either one of those stereotypes. She is willing to let me try out new things and lets me take control of the class, but is always there if I have a question.

Every new experience is fun and exciting, but always has its challenges. I am learning a lot and am loving it, but have had my fair share of struggles. I am grateful for outstanding family, friends, and a God that loves and supports me in all I do. I love life!!
-Janae