Mamma said there'll be days like this.
Your roommates will give you Strep throat
your first week of Student Teaching.
There will be no microwave at your placement school
and you will forget a spoon for your yogurt, again.
You will sweat obnoxiously every time you
teach. Or you'll end every day with a headache.
No matter how many times you say "voices off and eyes on me,"
students' voices will be the furthest thing from "off" and
their eyes will be anywhere but on you.
Your Mentor Teacher will have to step in to help manage,
and you will feel like a failure.
Two students did not bring their homework.
Seven students forgot their binders with all of their notes.
14 of them need a pencil, but, of course, they aren't sharpened.
So they'll stand there grinding their pencils in the
sharpener while you're giving directions.
Your classmates will be filled with worry,
which makes you worry that you are not worried enough.
Nights and weekends will be spent working to support yourself, while
the bills keep adding up and the paychecks do not.
There's a story about a man who works a hard, tiresome job.
After a rough day on the job, he brings home
a friend to meet his family.
He stops at a tree outside his house
and touches the branches with both hands.
He walks in the door with a smile on his face,
greeting his children and wife with open arms.
Struck by curiosity, his friend asks him
about what he had seen earlier.
The man tells him that is his "trouble tee", where he
leaves his troubles from the job each night when he comes home.
And in the morning he goes to pick them up again.
In the morning,
there are never as many as he remembers hanging up the night before.
Tomorrow is not today. Tomorrow,
Trevor* will finally bring his notes to class AND a pencil.
Your MT will compliment your lesson
or let you know you did well taking over for one of his classes.
The sweating-while-teaching will gradually dwindle.
You'll gain confidence in and outside of the classroom.
Leave your troubles on the trouble tree.
Pick them up tomorrow.
*Not real names
