Looking Back...

Although this semester was one of the busiest I have had in the classroom, it's been a blast and I've learned a lot. My mentor teacher and I have developed a close relationship, both personally and professionally. Through her observations, I have learned some of my strengths and weaknesses during teaching. Through her patience, I have had the opportunity to learn the best way-by doing. Not only do I feel that I have greatly benefitted from my time with and feedback from her, but I feel I have helped her, too. I can't help but feel that together, we have tackled problems by jumping in head-first in ways we may not have thought to do alone. We both do our best to find the time at least once a week to have a face-to-face conversation about our practices, and what our next steps include. Since I am entering her day-to-day world, I try to make sure I can help her in whatever way she needs, whether that may mean taking over a lesson impromptu, or grading a stack of last week's math problems. When I think back to everything we've put into this connection we share through our third graders, I could never thank her enough for welcoming me into her classroom with open arms.