Practicum Happiness

This week I had my last formal observation by my professor.  I was nervous because I was sick over the weekend and still not feeling well.  He observed another math lesson and it went really well.  I love being creative and finding fun ways to teach math.  There are some lessons were it's really hard to find manipulatives and real life examples to help teach the students but this lesson had some good hands on activities that I used.  My professor said he has been impressed with my lesson planning and teaching.  I still need to work on using less teacher talk and working on my questioning techniques so that students are answering their own questions instead of me just "telling". 
I was so happy this Thursday when I witnessed a small miracle with one of my students.  This particular student has selective mutism.  So he has such bad anxiety he can't talk in public.  There are 18 people that he will talk to including his family.  And when he is in public he will only whisper (to those selective people).  Thursday morning he was in the classroom with his mom before class.  His mom asked if they could talk with me, so my cooperating teacher had all the other students leave so this student wouldn't be so scared.  I guess he had a goal to be able to talk to me :) And he DID!!!! I was soooo happy! He told me about his two hamsters and a little about his family as well.  He did whisper but in a louder than normal whisper.  I asked him if there was anything I could do to help in not feel so anxious and he said not really but we made a deal that when I am teaching math if he doesn't understand something I will go and ask him one on one if he has understood everything (he won't raise his hand in class).  I had made a personal goal to make him for comfortable enough that by the end of the semester he spoke to me and he did :) That made my week.  That is what teaching is all about. 
This weekend we have plans to go snowboarding and I can't wait to get out of town and have some fun with my lover :)