Once upon a time…

In a land called Gorgas, there was an intern. Her name was Paige and it was her first week of instruction. She observed the other instructors and saw that they had many gifts, but one gift in particular caught her attention more than the rest. Behind all the glimmer of the instruction sessions was the raw talent of connecting students with the information the instructors were trying to teach them. While they all had different ways to impart the material, they were one in the belief that making connections with the students was important.

Nervous, she began co-teaching with Kayla. She knew she would be anxious but ultimately she was concerned that her jittering nerves would interfere with her teaching abilities. She worked for two hours trying to perfect her little demonstrations of Scout and Opposing viewpoints, making sure all of the information she was trying to get across was present.

The teacher of the session, when she arrived, decided that one of the things she was going to show the students cut in to the research time he wanted his students to have at the end of class! He also had an assignment he wanted the students to work on, which involved Paige pointing out different parts of Scout that she had not planned on using.

Quickly, she wrote an outline and her script was gone. The class was over before she had a chance to breathe, but her first co-teaching session was over and she had done well despite her nerves. She stuttered, stumbled, and “umm… let’s see” ‘d her way through, but her learning objectives were achieved.

Her second co-teaching session with Kayla went much smoother. She worked with her script as she had planned, but she had not planned for the number of students suddenly increasing after a half hour into the session. Her nerves quadrupled in size; despite her shaking hands, she made it through hardly looking at the outline and script she had prepared.

Instruction sessions were looking up for Paige. The more she taught the more she saw herself as a teacher. The criticism and encouragement she received in the aftermath of her co-teaching sessions helped her adjust and begin delving deeper into what could make her a better teacher.

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