Letter
to Me
Don’t
wait until the last minute to do any papers or projects. You can kind of be bad about that sometimes.
Switch right now to middle school math and English. The secondary math route, will
not work well for you (there are some bad teachers out there). You can save
some time later by not trying to stick it out. Do what you want to do. Mom and
Dad are not going to be disappointed that you switched majors (it’s really not
a big deal). You love math and English, and going in at the middle level makes
it really easy to learn about everything you love. You are going to have some
crazy professors, who grade unfairly. Do not worry so much that you forget what
is important.
WSU has
a great lesson plan format. IT WILL SAVE YOU TIME IN THE LONG RUN! You learn
how to really utilize the lesson plan template well. MAKE IT AS DETAILED AS POSSIBLE.
One thing I would change about the courses is to have a course that talks about
how to successfully create lesson plans. This would include looking at how to
backwards plan. Otherwise you have a few teachers who teach you different
things a little at a time. It would be nice to have a class that discusses how
to efficiently plan.
ALL of the work you do in your
pre-service and pre-student teaching will come in handy! Your professors may
seem to ask for a lot, but you will want to thank them later, because
everything will come so much more easily. You will have fantastic math and
English supervisors at WSU. They will care about you and help you in any way
that they can. Do not take them for granted.
Mom and
Dad will try and convince you to sign a waiver to get out of the district you
are in. You will decide not to. This is a great choice! You will meet so many
wonderful teachers and students in your student teacher placement. Speaking of
placements, keep your notebook up to date, it will benefit you. Spend more time
experimenting with organizational systems that best suit you.
Spend
your last semesters giving everything you have! You will have one major project
in English. If you do every step one at a time, fully, then you will be so much
happier. That is something I did and I know it saved me a lot of worrying later
on.
You will
face a lot of challenges in student teaching. You will meet each one with determination,
this will help you more than you can believe. Also, remember that you are going
to an awesome teacher! Do not stress out too much during the job interview
process. Don’t worry, you will get a job. Do not be afraid to say what you
believe should happen in a classroom during your interviews. Some of the things
you believe are slightly radical in a field that can be filled with
traditionalists. There will be people who will find your views refreshing. Be
yourself! You rock, remember that!
