Congrats!!!

So I know this post doesn't have a whole lot to do with our class, but it does have to deal with education and what we'll all have to be doing here in a few semesters/years.... student teaching!!! I just wanted to say congrats to my wonderful fiance Bryan for finishing his last day of student teaching today! I know some of you won't care about this post or might just see it as a way to brag, but I think everyone should be proud of someone when they accomplish student teaching, its alot of work! Bryan attend EMU for his Special Education teaching degree, specifically in Cognative Impairments. Im not sure if at UofM students have to do this, but if you are studying special education at EMU you have to do 2 student teachings. This normally means you spend a whole school year doing your student teaching! Thankfully though through some connections and being denied multiple times, Bryan was finally accepted into an accelerated program in which he would do his regular classroom teaching and then his special education teaching back to back in a consecutive 20 week span, ten weeks for each one. So today was his last official day of those 20 weeks :) Im so proud of all the hard work he's put into this! Not only did he teach every weekday, he also worked practically ever week night after teaching and then worked the entire weekend. I have no idea how he fit time in for everything (Well actually I do, he prolly hasn't slept more than 4 or 5 hours each night since 20 weeks ago).

I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting both of the classrooms he worked with. I got to actually seem him interact and teach a few lessons :) I first met his regular 3rd grade, 26 kid classroom on one of the last days he was with them. He did a whole unit on Native Americans of Michigan and the last day of hte unit he had a pow wow. Both my mom and I were able ot go to this because my grandmother was a full Chippewa Native American that lived on a reservation. That makes my mom half and me a quarter. So we got to go and talk to the kids about our heritage and show them lots of authentic native american items. It was also important that I went because Bryan wanted to show his students that people don't always look the way they are stereotyped (I have blonde hair and blue eyes, not a typical Native American like my mom who has black hair, tan skin, and brown eyes). So it was cool to encorporate a diversity lesson in with that. Anyways, I could just see how much the kids loved him and had grown so close to him. Some of the kids parents said their kids were almost to tears when they thought about him leaving. On the last day they had so much fun that none of them had a chance to which was very good :) I think the cutest thing though was that the last day each kid gave Bryan a hand written recommendation letter to include in his portfolio. It showed how their writing skills had improved over the ten week period as well they talked about all of the things they learned and liked about him! It was such a good idea and the best gift they could have ever given him!

Now his second student teaching was alot different then the first. Bryan was in a special ed class that had CI (cognatively impaired) and EI (emotionally impaired) students. His class had only 8 students grades K-5. Now the day I went to visit, they were making mother's day stone mosaics and Bryan was doing a science lesson. Bryan did a fantastic job helping and working with these students, but I can see that working in a Special Ed classroom isn't for everyone. Its alot harder to motivate this group of children as well as get them to pay attention for short amounts of time. There is alos a mix of learning, behavioral, and emotional issues all in one classroom. I think the hardest thing though is the relationship building with these children. You could be the worlds best, kindest, friendliest teacher and still not see any sign of connection between certain students and you. Some of them just lack the emotionality of relationship building. A big part of being a teacher for me is building relationships with your students and I would feel like a failure if the student showed me no emotion, whether it be them hating me or loving me. Bryan is a people person, but at the same time he understands these kids perfectly and works well with them.

I just have to say that I've learned alot from Bryan over these past 20 weeks, mostly about what determination and harwork really are. I've also learned so much about students with special needs. These students are overlooked alot of times. Some teachers don't have training on how to help these students when they are mainstreamed in their classroom, so they end up falling even more behind. Also, students aren't taught how to interact with these children so they either pick on them or ignore them. I just don't want to see any child at a disadvantage in life or to be left behind by the school system. Im just so happy and proud that Bryan wants to help these kids and make a difference in their lives!