#studentteaching | edUconnections

Are you having a rough day? Go hang out in a classroom filled with kindergartners for a little while, and I guarantee it will cheer you up exponentially! Those little ones are full of awe and wonder and innocence and unconditional love…most of the time.

My daughter is a SPED Professor and she teaches college students how to become effective SPED teachers. One of the highlights of being a professor of educators is being able to go observe them when they are at the end of their prep program and are finally student teaching in a real classroom. This is their time to shine!

My daughter walked into the Kindergarten classroom and took a seat to begin her observation of her student teacher. A sweet little blonde-haired boy who was sitting close to her turned and looked her square in the eyes and asked very seriously, “Who is you?”

She whispered to him, “I am Professor Juhl, who are you?” He politely answered her and when he was done, she asked him to please turn and listen to what the teacher was going to share. He obeyed.

Who is you? This is a fantastic question to ponder. How do you think most of us would answer if asked that question? I am guessing we would give our common view of who we are and not get too personal.

Who is you?

I am Wendy.

Dean’s wife.

Kyle and Jamie’s mom.

Warren, Sibyl, Tyus, and Lucy’s grandma.

Education professor at SMSU.

I am ________________ (how would you fill in the blank?).

I wonder what the little boy would have said if my daughter would have answered his question with a question.

Little boy: Who is you?

Professor Juhl: Who do you say I am?

Okay, that question reversal would most likely confuse a kindergartner. Or…maybe not. Those little 5-year old children are creative creatures. Answering a question with a question might launch the conversation on a completely different trajectory. I guess we will never know unless we give it a try.

In the bible, we find Jesus asking his disciples a similar question. He asks them, “Who do people say I am?” (Matthew 16:13).

The disciples answer Jesus’ question with the common view answer just as we might. They say John the Baptist. Elijah. Jeremiah. Some prophet. (Matthew 16:14).

Then, Jesus turns the question back to his disciples. “What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Simon Peter does not give the common view answer to Jesus. Read what he says in Matthew 16:16…Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, The Son of the living God.” He acknowledged that Jesus is divine and is the long-awaited Messiah. Simon Peter gets a little more personal about who Jesus is.

I wonder how I would answer if Jesus were to ask me, “Who do you say I am?” I believe I would lovingly tell Him, “I believe you are my Lord and Savior who chose the cross. You chose that cross to give me and others the gift of eternal life in Heaven! You chose to sacrifice your life on that cross, Lord. You chose to suffer for me and for all others because you love us that much.”

Mind-blowing!

How about you? How would you answer Him if He asked you “Who do you say I am?”

What if we asked Jesus that same question? “Lord, who do You say I am?” Without a doubt, I know the answer to that question. How about you? If you aren’t sure, open up your bible and read the book of Ephesians. It clearly states who we are, who we is.

Back to the student teacher in the kindergarten classroom. When Professor Juhl had a follow-up conversation with the young teacher-to-be, she mentioned how cute the little boy who asked her the question was. This future teacher agreed and said she really loves that little boy. Then she reminded Professor Juhl about the boy who had punched her in the face the week before. This cute little boy who had asked my daughter “who is you” was him, the same kid, the one who smacked the student teacher. BUT…it did not matter! It did not matter because the student teacher just loves that little boy so much.

That is how it is with Jesus. Who is you? Who do you say I am? Jesus is love. We mess up all the time. ALL.THE.TIME. But, it does not matter because Jesus just loves us so much. We are who He says we are. We are loved. We are forgiven. We are redeemed. We are set free. That is who we is!

Stay Calm & Know Who You (Is) Are!
Profs Dr. Wendy & Dr. V.

A wise teacher once said at parent-teacher conferences, “I will only believe half the stories I hear at school if you do the same at home.” Was that me? I may have used that line a time or two. 🙂 There is usually some truth to each story, however. With that in mind…

This week we have a guest blogger, Ms. Alyssa Prior, teacher candidate from Southwest Minnesota State University. She happens to be student teaching with me while I am on sabbatical assignment teaching English learners, and Alyssa is collecting many stories to share… Without further ado and in her own words (mostly) uncensored, Ms. Alyssa Prior:

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Student Teaching at Park Side Elementary School only has one rule – What happens at Park Side Elementary with Dr. V, stays at Park Side Elementary. Luckily, I will disclose just a few exciting excerpts from this week’s adventures! Unfortunately I do not yet know all of Dr. V’s deep dark secrets, but I will share two small secrets of teaching.

Secret #1- Teaching ESL is NEVER just teaching.

Unlike most teachers, we do not have a classroom inside the building. We are located in the mobile learning lab, just out front of the school. Since we are not located inside the school, we normally find a corner to work with our small groups of 3-6 students.
On our way back to the mobile learning lab from one of our classes inside the school, we came across a student standing in the hallway. This student was dripping wet. He was just standing there, dripping from the waist down. As many of you can guess, this student was not just wet from the rain and snow. This was pee, running down his legs all over the floor in front of his locker. Of course, being the super teacher she is, Dr. V took this student directly to the bathroom as I tried to find some extra clothes. This was just our first adventure Tuesday, our next adventure was magic.

On top of teaching, we had our EL Family night this week. On Tuesday, we invited all ESL families in the Marshall School District as well as a few surrounding schools. We had Jett Skrien, a Marshall High School student perform a magic show for the families. This event was the talk of the week with our students, and it had a great turn out! One of our second grade students even went on stage with Jett! Dr. V so kindly volunteered us to ride the bus to and from the show, to ensure that all families got on and off at the correct stops. During this time, I was directing traffic as the bus waited for families, and I visited with families on the bus! I felt like a superhero as I told the cars sitting in line waiting for the bus to move that they could simply drive around the bus.

FUN FACT- If a bus does not have their stop sign out and does not have the red flashing lights on, you may pass it!

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On Wednesday our kindergarten students had a Thanksgiving feast. This was a very exciting event for staff and students! We saw some turkeys trotting down the hall- to their feast. Dr. V and I agreed that these were some lucky turkeys! They were attending the feast and not part of the feast. During this time we walked around visiting with our students. After the feast was over, Dr. V also became a custodian! Being a teacher is not just teaching, you become well diverse in many jobs!

Secret #2- Hosting a student teacher involves more than being just his or her mentor, you also become a chauffeur.

This week I have had some unfortunate car troubles. After our wonderful snow day on the previous Friday, I was cleaning the snow and ice off of my vehicle, and I smelled something funny! I opened the car door with a giant cloud of smoke streaming out of the vehicle. Since I was unable to drive a flaming vehicle to and from school, Dr. V kindly drove me home from school a few days and offered to pick me up if I ever needed a ride! Luckily, my roommates were able to drive me to school every day, but Dr. V took on the job of bringing me home after school! Since EL family night was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, my roommates were out-of-town and unable to bring me there. Dr. V so kindly offered to pick me up, knowing my car was still not in tip-top shape. At 5:05pm, Dr. V pulled up at my house. We were scheduled to meet the bus that we would be riding at 5:20pm. We were riding peacefully to Southwest coaches when all the sudden Dr. V hears a weird sound.

“Is that my tire? Do I have a flat tire?!” Dr. V anxiously said as she pulled over. “Alyssa, get out and see if that’s my tire”.

As it is still raining, I jumped out and see it’s a flat tire. JUST OUR LUCK!

As I was ready to change a tire, Dr. V calls for backup.

Needless to say, I do not have good luck with cars. However, we did make it to our EL family night and had a great turn out! Multiple test drives later, shopping for the perfect fit, and five days after a small car fire, I have a new car. Hopefully one that won’t start on fire or get a flat tire anytime soon.

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My adventures with Dr. V have been crazy and fun, but they have also been very eye-opening. I have known Dr. V for three years now as my advisor and professor, but I have never in these three years seen her smile or laugh as much as I have at Park Side Elementary School. If I have learned one thing from this experience so far, it has been to always do what you love and laugh a little along the way, even if you have a flat tire. ~A.P.