Goodbye.... we hardly knew ye.....

Well, my student teacher's stretch at NRHS is officially over.  She stopped coming about a week ago, although she did manage to contact me to ask for a letter of recommendation... which... I'm not sure I can bring myself to write.  It doesn't help that, while I did not recommend her for a credential, the university may have pushed her through.  That's the feeling I get, anyway.


*sigh*

Probably the scariest thing throughout this experience was the extent to which she reminded me of myself in my first two or three years of teaching.  Of course, my memory is biased, and you all know I have a talent for criticizing myself.   Even so, there's a question that hovers in my mind:  How is it fair that I got a second chance to prove myself, and yet I would deny her the same?  I had a lot of the same weaknesses - lack of organization, bad classroom management, so-so musical knowledge for a music major, and non-existent pedagogy skills on anything but saxophone...  and don't even get me started on the paperwork.

I already have answers to that question (and I also already know that fairness really isn't an issue):  1) I obviously had the potential to grow, which I did, especially during my masters program.   2) Despite my weaknesses, I had some natural strengths.  When I watch her teach, she doesn't seem to have much to balance out her weaknesses, and I think she has some cognitive/processing issues that interfere with her ability to grow.  I seriously doubt her ability to survive a graduate degree.

I really don't feel bad about my final recommendation - I guess I feel a little funny denouncing her inadequacy and mediocrity, when I'm still struggling with my own.  Maybe that just means that there's still hope for me ;-)