Final Grading . . . Final Options

I finished grading the 6th block novel projects yesterday. Overall, not bad. Average score for those that turned in a project was 79. I was generous; I could have graded much harder, especially for students that I know should be able to produce a certain caliber of work. But hey, I'm a student teacher, and I guess it won't matter if I was too lenient in the long run. However, my CT is even more lenient than I am! I think that I probably wrote way too much feedback on their rubric sheets, but I felt as though it was important that I comment on what I thought they did well. I probably will not continue to write so much as my teaching career progresses, but I like doing it now because I think constructive feedback on a student's critical thinking is cruical to developing their future efforts.

I am hopefully going to have lunch with my good friend, former professor (though she's not a "Dr."), and overall mentor (I'll call her "Karly Lands") next week. She was an English Department Chair (DC) for many, many years, and an English teacher for 30 years. I have so much respect for her because she stays up-to-date on educational trends, but she is realistic about what works in the real world too. She has high standards, and I hope that I can be as successful a teacher as she has been. Although, I'm not sure that I would want the responsibility of being a DC—at least not at this juncture.

I'd like to get an overall "debriefing" from her on my student teaching experience, particularly because of the miserable initial part of it during my 5 week stint at Hendrickson. I know she knows all about "Elphaba," the wicked witch that was my CT at Hendrickson, but I'd like to get her general perspective looking back over the whole thing. I've really not had a chance to look back myself, but I can say that the prospect of applying for teaching jobs seems daunting at this point. It was a very involved process to apply for a substitute teaching job in Cobb County, so I can only imagine what it will be like to apply for a teacher's job. Then, I'll have to do that for every county in which I apply for a job. *Ugh.*