The Syllabus Emails Begin

Since I am in the honors program at ISU, I have to take 21 hours of honors classes before I graduate. I only have one more class left to fulfill that, which is my Teaching 209 class. Interestingly, the way it is set up, in the fall I took Teaching 208 (an honors class) with the same professor I will have for 209. I'm excited for a challenge, while also feeling comfortable with the teacher I got to know last semester.

Anyway, I have already received an email this week about the class, syllabus, and schedule for 209! While all of this is not necessarily directly related to my student teaching, I am excited for all of the experiences I will be having, so I thought I'd share.

This class is a Literacy class for my reading endorsement. This class is meant to give us experience with a fully functioning elementary classroom (first graders!!!) We will each be given a student to assess, and then plan for and deliver literacy instruction based on the assessment and district and state standards! We will also collaborate with peers to plan for small group instruction with our individual students.

The assignments we are expected to include include an Assessment and Tutoring Tool Kit, an Emergency Lesson Plan Folder (like a substitute binder!), reports on the assessments, daily tutoring plans, and tutoring goals and plans.

We will have 30 class times during the semester, and 23 of them we will be in the classroom observing or working with our students! The first week we will even be observing. The clinical hours I will be gaining will be tremendous - probably around 40 hours! (I have to have 100 clinical hours clocked before student teaching - currently I have 35 hours done, and with all of the classes I'm taking next semester including 209 I will probably gain 70+ more!)

I know this might sound confusing if you do not know much about education, so basically: in my Teaching 209 class I will have one student I will be assessing on their reading skills. I will then have to plan lessons to tutor the student according to their needs and the learning goals of the school and Illinois. Sometimes, we will have to plan for small groups including multiple students including our own. We will have to create an assessment tool kit, substitute plans if we are sick, reports on our assessments, and daily lesson plans. 23/30 of our class times will be spent with our students. I will be gaining 40 hours of practice, adding to the 100 I must have before I student teach.

I'm nervous but very excited for the challenge! I can't wait to meet my student and act like a real teacher - even if its just for one student!!