Goodbye Letters to Students

Over the weekend I finished writing goodbye letters to all of my freshman English students. After nearly 60 letters, I feel it was a job well done. :) I've always been a fan of writing personal letters to people. I used to write them to family members for Christmas or New Years and felt it was appropriate to share supportive sentiments with the students I've grown to love during my student teaching experience. They're not very long letters, just a few distinct messages for each student. I feel the more individualized education can be, the better. So, this is one way I hoped to show individual attention and support for this group of students. In addition to handing out letters during my final week of student teaching, I'm asking students to fill out a survey, providing another opportunity for feedback from students about what they learned and how I taught. The form students will fill out is uploaded below:


End of Class Survey

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The Countdown Is On!

I'm wrapping up my student teaching experience at Benson. I have a week left at school, before I finish up my final class for my graduate degree in education. Once that's done I'll officially apply for my diploma, send in my application for licensure in Oregon, and then wait for my license to come through. Hopefully that will happen in early to mid-January. I plan on substituting for the remainder of the year, scoping out schools in advance of my first full-time teaching job next year!

Teaching at Benson has been a lot of fun. I absolutely love all my students, despite how frustrating they can be as a group sometimes. I'll miss them a lot, and I feel like it's unfair that I only get to teach them for the first part of the year. I'd rather stay (and get paid) by finishing out the year with them. :) Oh well, at least I'll be able to come in and sub once in a while for Rob. That's also on my to-do list -- market myself as a sub!

Oh, one other thing... the best part of my day yesterday was getting a "My Favorite Teacher" slip. :) Another teacher at Benson has the kids fill out these little papers once in a while, either an "I'm struggling" slip or a "My Favorite Teacher" slip. I had an anonymous sixth period English student write about why I'm his/her favorite teacher. Apparently, I'm really nice and help a lot with English homework. It was, I'm sure, something small for a student to do, but it means a lot to me. In fact, I think I'll include it in my portfolio as proof positive that I get along with my kids so well!