The Other Side of Student Teaching

We chaperoned a dance last night. It was the first dance of the year for the middle school so there were a lot of kids who it was their first time.

I had worked at an after school program before that included some "rec" time, but my husband was shocked at the sheer amount of energy that could radiate from these students. Half the gym was full of students standing around, goofing off, (very few dancing), and the other half there are basket balls, and dozens of kids just running. They run to get their basketballs, they run to meet their friends, they run to chase each other, they run from one side of the gym to the other just to see what's going on. There were little sixth grade girls running suicides for fun, and this evolved into some sort of racing game with twenty or thirty kids involved. Since my husband's normally used to seeing these kids with their head down, silent, or looked dazed in class, it was quite an experience for him.

I've been to middle schools where you do have to break up PDA or search the bathrooms for drugs, etc... But this middle school "dance" was one of those where it seemed more like everyone was trying to revert back to when they were ten years old. Other than one parent who was DUI, the night was pretty clean.

Even as a student teacher, it's a good idea to get involved in extra curricular activities. My husband is not the only student teacher at his school at the moment. When the other teachers exclaimed, "wow, I should have had my student teacher do this" and "were you asked to do this?" He proudly said, "no, I volunteered." and earned some valuable face-time with the principal. And in case you were wondering... no, we weren't paid for any of it because this state has strict laws about being paid for anything while you student teach.