Roll Call, Real Talk, and Reality: Week One in the Classroom

I approached my first week of student teaching with nervous anticipation. New haircut. Freshly ironed shirt and trousers. Fully charged laptop. I walked into the halls of Westlake High School ready to teach—but also ready to learn.

This week has already set the tone for my student teaching experience. While I can't speak for all student teachers, it has been an incredible week of opportunity and growth.

At the beginning of the week, I had the opportunity to participate in my first professional development day. The sessions introduced several strategies that will support my student teaching experience and my future practice as an educator. In these sessions, I learned strategies for ethically using artificial intelligence in the classroom, the importance of setting clear professional boundaries, and practices for differentiating and scaffolding instruction to support English language learners.

I have also had the opportunity to plan instruction for our upcoming unit on The Great Gatsby. Since I will be teaching most of the unit, with input from my mentor teacher, I decided to divide the class into three sections: East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes. I created several bellringers, exit tickets, and a Blooket vocabulary set to reduce cognitive load and support retention through distributed practice.

To further scaffold instruction and support struggling learners, I plan to implement character maps that I purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers.

I am excited for the next several weeks in the classroom. I have an incredible support network, and with their guidance, I know I will continue to grow and develop into an effective educator.