This week was a doozy, but not in a bad way. For the first time, my co-teacher and I taught three lessons in a day, which felt like a lot but went by so quickly! We taught 2 ukulele lessons, 2 carnival of the animals lessons, and 2 art lessons. Our lessons this week, and receiving feedback, was received a lot better by me, thankfully. I was able to take feedback, positive or negative, and not feel anxious or question myself.

My co-teacher and I are in an interesting position as we have been given the opportunity to take our lessons and teach them twice, to two different classes. This has been really beneficial for us, as we are able to teach the lesson, and adapt it before we teach it again. Being able to see how our changes impact the lesson has been so great and this has been one of the things I appreciate the most about being paired with a music teacher for this practicum. This week, I was dealing with some things that came up in my personal life, my childhood dog unfortunately had to be put down. I was candid with my mentor teacher about this and I was amazed at how supportive everyone was. It was great reminder that as educators, we must take care of ourselves as well. The day after this happened was tough, I was emotionally exhausted, but it genuinely would not have wanted to be anywhere else. I was surrounded by a co-teacher and mentor who genuinely care about me, and I was able to continue to connect with students.

Looking forward to next week, our last week (wow!), I am most looking forward to continuing to improve upon my teacher presence when teaching lessons. I have been working on building my confidence over the last week and I feel I have improved by leaps and bounds, but there is always more growth that can occur!