Reflection #2

Yesterday we went on a class trip. The realization finally hit me that teaching is hard. It’s not a 8-3pm job. During the trip, I spent most of my time with one of the students. He is an obese tenth grade with Chronic Asthma. During the walk to and from the Museum we were in the back sometimes feets away from the class. Part of the reason was to not offset his Asthma but another reason was because it was just difficult for him to keep up with everyone. It was then I realized that teacher’s roles are difficult. You have to manage students outside of the classroom and that is not an easy task especially if you are dealing with students with disabilities. We ended up having to take a cab back to the school because ti started to rain and he started to wheezing uncontrollably. I understand that this is not a regular occurrence but I kept thinking “this is someone’s child that I’m responsible for !” and whether you are in a classroom or not this has to be going through your mind. As teachers, we are responsible for making sure they have the skills necessary to function in a professional setting. In a way, we are like surrogate parents. Parenting is difficult enough with one or two but twenty plus? The stress begins to weigh heavily on me. My cooperating teacher said succinctly that some of them you just have to let go for the sake of the many. This is a hard lesson that going forward I know I have to learn. Idealistically, I want to save them all. That is why I wanted to become a teacher. I also want to learn how to reach students that have been taught not to trust adults. How do I get them engaged in lessons?