Alyssa Provencher, a 2009 Hawthorne High School alumna, will be graduating from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, in May, 2013. Graduating with a degree in Elementary Education, Provencher is spending her last semester in college as a student teacher for a third grade class at Paul Revere Elementary School in Revere, MA.
Provencher’s role as a student teacher began as an observer, but it has increased to currently leading reading and math groups which serve as her main teaching assignment throughout the day. She is also responsible for giving individual help. Her role in the classroom will continue to grow, and at the end of March she will take full responsibility for teaching and planning for two school weeks.
Provencher talked about how funny the kids are every day, such as the humorous comments the students make. Provencher recalls “laughing when they sound like 40-year-olds telling me, ‘Miss Provencher, I’m keeping hand sanitizer in my desk today because the flu is in full swing this season.’”
The student teaching experience has affirmed Provencher’s desire to be a teacher. She has received good feedback from her professors after they observed her in the classroom, but she knows she still has a lot of learning and growing to do as she develops as a teacher. On top of this, seeing the teacher working in the classroom with the students has exposed her to all the ways her personality is set up for her to become a teacher.
Provencher also explained that she loves teaching third grade, as opposed to kindergarten, first, or other grades, because it is the time where kids learn to be independent and start to take responsibility in school. The students are still young and excited about learning. Their minds are able to be molded at that age, and working on this grade level allows her to help them shape an interest in knowledge
As a student teacher, there is a lot of planning that Provencher must do. She currently plans one or two lessons for the next school day, but as the year goes on she will take on five or six per day. At the end of every day, she writes several review analyses. One is a post analysis in which she reflects on the success of lessons, what students did or did not understand, and how she can improve. She then writes a daily journal reflection in order to reflect on the different things going on in class. “I usually pick a different focus each day, and the goal is to get us thinking like teachers. Needless to say, we do a lot of writing and reflecting- this is so important when you’re a teacher,” said Provencher. Along with all of this, she will occasionally check homework or grade tests.
Provencher went on to express the difficulty when kids have a hard time understanding a lesson, and she doesn’t know why. When that happens, it’s back to square one to figure out what needs to be worked on. From this lesson, Provencher knows that the first couple years when she becomes a real teacher will be difficult and time consuming as she discovers “what works.” However, “It takes a while to get them past laziness and to work really hard on an assignment,” Provencher said, “but when I can see their passion and excitement in truly understanding a concept or enjoying an assignment, there is nothing better!”