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Student Teaching 

Student teaching for me, as for many other students, was very different, not only due to a pandemic, but also because I was diagnosed with Colon Cancer in October of 2020. Due to my diagnosis and the need to undergo chemotherapy, I was advised by my oncologist to remain in virtual learning for a little over half of  student teaching. This proved to be challenging as Covid had already limited many of the opportunities to interact with students in person up to this point. Nonetheless, both of my collaborating teachers were of tremendous support to help me get through this. 

 

For my first 8 week placement, I had the great opportunity of teaching at Columbine Elementary School in Boulder Valley School District, under the wing of Marylin Cohen. Columbine has a strong commitment to biliteracy and culturally responsive teaching. It also has a diverse population of students, made up of 56.5% Latinex students. For these reasons, Columbine was a great fit for me as I too am committed to culturally responsive teaching. I had ample opportunity to interact and teach students in both languages and even assign projects that integrated biliteracy. Both Mrs. Cohen and I taught completely virtually, while some students attended in person (with a para in the room), and others attending virtually as well. It sounds chaotic, and at times it was, but we made it work and made the best of it while still managing to establish rapport with students, even with its limitations. 

For my second placement I was tremendously fortunate to have been placed at Silver Creek High School in St. Vrain Valley School District under the masterful guidance of Katherine Giese. For the first few weeks of my placement, I had to continue attending virtually as I was finishing my chemo treatment, but was able to attend in person after Spring Break. "Silver Creek High School is an inclusive community committed to leadership and excellence in academics, the arts and athletics." In Mrs. Giese's classroom, TAB (teaching for artistic behavior) and the 8 Studio Habits of Mind are the norm, she knows them by heart: Stretch and Explore, Express, Develop Craft, Envision, Understand the Arts Community, Observe, Engage and Persist, and Reflect. They too have also become part of my teaching philosophy. Student teaching at Silver Creek expanded my horizons and helped me step out of my comfort zone. My area of concentration at CSU was metalsmithing, and although I know it is an unrealistic expectation to think the first job as a teacher will be teaching metalsmithing at a high school, I was secretly hoping I would be teaching it during student teaching. Luckily for me, I was placed with Mrs. Giese  who guided me to developing a choice based drawing unit, from drawing materials and techniques, to creating a unique work of art that incorporates one or more learned drawing techniques that expresses something about their identity.   Nurturing identity is one of my passions as a teacher, and drawing was, I thought, one of my weaknesses, but during my weeks at Silver Creek I was gently and supportively guided through teaching something I did not feel 100% comfortable with to a point where I feel 100% confident in teaching now. 

 

 

 

 

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