ahora vamos a contar

the tables have finally turned...

I HAVE STUDENT INTERNS!

i was supposed to have a student teacher last year, but when i changed grades in december that didn't make much sense to have someone watch me do things for the first time. but this year i at least have some of the material down and am at a good place in my overall teaching (this is my fourth official year), so i signed up again with a local university. and now i have two bright, shiny interns that come into my room nearly every day of the week.

it started off rather strangely... they would come in right in the middle of a lesson and i'd be in the middle of FULL TEACH. so i'd ignore them. kind of weird, knowing they were taking notes and wandering around and not having the time to do more than a quick explanation of what was happening.

then one of them started being flaky. she would schedule a time outside of her usual internship hours of observation, then not show up. then she didn't show up for her regular time, either. THEN, she came one day when i had a sub (but was still on campus) wearing shortie running shorts and a t-shirt that showed a little belly. i had already notified her supervisor of the inconsistent attendance, but was totally pissed about her violating not only the teacher dress code, but also the student one. we put her on a growth plan, and as far as i was concerned, down two strikes.

the other intern was much more professional, but then she taught her first lesson. totally unconfident. totally flustered. no "presence" to her at all - doesn't know how to harness her energy to command the kids' attention and get them to listen to her above all other distractions in the room.

the flake, on the other hand, is a bit too confident given the already poor impression i have of her. but she's excellent at mimicking my attention-getting strategies in class and has quickly learned from her co-intern's mistakes.

it's strange being in the position of teaching the craft to others now. they hear when i misspeak, make stupid mistakes, and get upset with a student for severe misbehavior. they know some of my weaknesses as a teacher and in spite of that come to me for advice and guidance. like i'm supposed to know what i'm doing.

weird, weird, weird.

but as slightly irritating as they were at first, now that they're teaching lessons i get a lot of flashbacks of my time in college. and i feel old.