it had to be said...

So today was the day I had the big talk with the student teacher. What started the whole thing was my asking what her ending date is and we discovered she has ten days left. Then she said she's "done with it." I told her that she can't be done, that she still has content to teach. I said it's not fair to compare, but that when I was student teaching I knocked myself out every day to impress my supervising teacher and that I am not seeing that in her, that I haven't been impressed, but the potential is there.

I mean, the content is difficult. Civics is hard to be into and hard to make exciting. But the reality is that no matter what she gets for a teaching job she will more than likely end up teaching civics at some point, as an American history teacher. But it's my job to make the content interesting and that my enthusiasm for the content makes my students enthusiastic about the content. And it's my responsibility to keep honing the content and knowing it inside and out. And I don't see that happening with her, either.

As gently as I could, I told her these things. I know she's not feeling well. I know the content is difficult. But I also know she can do it if she pushes herself outside her comfort zone and works harder. I've got to write a letter of recommendation for her and I want it to be more than, "continue to work on lesson plan flexibility," or "keep researching techniques for classroom management."

Anyhow, I did it and I'm so proud of myself for saying what needed to be said.