The Apprentice

This morning our kindergarten teacher told me that her daughter, a 19 year old education major, would be in my classroom today. Okie dokie. I don't mind some extra help for a day. "That's fine," I said. Minutes later, her daughter came over and asked me if the principal had told me that she was going to be in my room. "No," I said, "But your mom just told me. That's fine, the kids will enjoy having you in the room." "Great," she said. "I've got some papers from my school, I'll just leave them on your desk." Papers? Okay, maybe she's observing me for one of her classes and I have to fill something out.

I looked over the papers and it turns out that this is a Teacher Apprenticeship Program. She'll be in my room every Wednesday for 6 weeks to observe, help, and eventually, teach a lesson or two. I totally don't mind, but a little advance warning would have been nice, you know?

About ten minutes later, my principal appeared at my door. She said that our K teacher had come to her a few weeks ago asking if her daughter could work in one of our primary rooms for her apprenticeship. They weren't sure which classroom they were going to put her in until this morning. And then everyone just forgot to tell me. How does that happen?

I figured that this girl could spend her first day observing me (since I wasn't expecting her, and had no idea what else she could do). She sat in the back of my room with a giant binder and took notes. TOOK NOTES. I was dying of curiousity. I'd love to know what she wrote.

I have to stop thinking of myself as a new teacher. First my principal asked me to be somebody's mentor, now she wants me to be someone's cooperating teacher. Suddenly I have "experience" and "expertise." It's a little scary. It'll be interesting to see how this all pans out.