Observation Time!

The beginning of this week has marked an important step in the St. Olaf student teacher journey: the (often-dreaded) observation. Student teachers in the States have 8 different observations spread out over their one or two student teaching placements, but, since I'm in India, the observation happens once, and it happens early. A mere three and a half weeks into the school year (I haven't even learned everyone's names yet!), Professor Leer made her journey to India to observe at Woodstock and Kodaikanal, a school in south India.

Ironically, Prof Leer is one of the only education professors that I never really met during my four years at St. Olaf, so I didn't know what to expect. I was a bit nervous about being observed by someone I had never had much interaction with, but I've had a great time the past few days. Obviously, it's been hard work to make sure that everyone goes as well as it possible can (I mean, just kidding I do that every single day), and it's tiring to not only teach the lesson but talk at length about it afterwards, but the perks definitely outweighed the benefits. Let me elaborate:

1) I know I'm on the right track right away: when I first got the dates of my observation, I was a little panicky. I have no idea what I'm doing! I can have someone observe me now! But I thought about it and realized that student teaching is all about not knowing what I'm doing. This is THE PERFECT TIME for me to make a fool of myself, because I'm not getting paid and someone can tell me if I mess up. No hard feelings. Nothing has been even close to a disaster, given a large measure of meticulous preparation and a small measure of serendipity and happy accident, so everything's cool! And now I know exactly what I'm doing right and exactly what I need to work on.

2) Having someone watching me makes me more self-reflective: When someone is scrutinizing me, it's an automatic response for me to scrutinize myself. In the case of an outfit or a hairstyle, that's not so great, but in the case of lesson plan development and classroom management, it makes me a much better educator. It's also great to have someone here who's only job is to talk with me about myself. Even my host teacher, as wonderful and patient and willing to share as she is, has other things to do. Prof Leer's only job here at Woodstock was to watch me and tell me about myself. Awesome!

3) St. Olaf has a generous meal budget: Thanks to Prof Leer and the education department at St. Olaf, I was able to enjoy the delights of one of the classiest restaurants on the mountain on Sunday, and the wonders of the local Tibetan restaurant on Monday. So much delicious food, and I couldn't even believe that I was being treated to two dinners off campus in two days. And, since the Rupee has devalued so much in the past few months, the US dollar goes a lot farther! Woot!

4) I got to know a great professor: You guys. Prof Leer is awesome. I'm honestly really sad that I didn't have a chance to take a class with her, and I'm disappointed in myself for not introducing myself when I was at school. She's a super educator, a great supervisor, and she was fun to spend time with! What a great combo.

Now that my observation is over with, I have other assignments and things to complete before I can actually get my teaching license. I do feel like I've conquered a major step in this process, though, and I'm feeling good about what's coming next!