On being a student and a teacher

Right now I am completing my Masters of Arts in teaching, specifically my student teaching. I started the program in the summer and am completing it in one year unlike some of the other people in the program who took a few classes last spring to lighten their load now.

While I am student teaching (aka unpaid teaching) I have assignments to complete for my other classes (Methods, Literature for Teachers and Middle School Reading). Separately either of things things are not difficult to do. Together they can be quite confusing.

Some of the assignments intertwine with the student teaching part while others do not. All of my assignments for my "outside" classes have due dates. In addition, there are deadlines like turning grades in that are applicable only for teaching.

For someone as forgetful as me this causes immense difficulty. Specific dates stick in my mind but unless I write it down I forget why the particular date is important. On the flip side having all of these due dates can make my hand bleed ink putting everything down on the page to make sure that I can remember it.

Sometimes though this intertwining doesn't happen so well. The past few days and weekends have been full of pushing forward to finish assignments that I could have been working on earlier but didn't realize that the due date or date for the execution of the assignment was as close as it is. (Take for instance a unit with a pre and post test that I have to complete for my Methods class. I intended to teach this unit when my University Supervisor came to observe. I realized when I left school yesterday that that week was coming up next week and I had done really nothing in preparation for that unit because I kind of forgot about it. lol)

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love teaching. I absolutely love learning. I don't love doing both at the same time. I want to be able to give my full attention to both and sometimes I don't have enough attention to go around.

After I start teaching I know that I will more than likely pursue yet another degree... such as teaching English as a Second Language... but I will take a maximum of one class while I am teaching or more during the summers.

That aside, I will plug along for the remaining 71 days of the semester and do the best that I can with God's help. Whatever happens I know that God is in control.