My CT

CT is an abbreviation for "cooperating teacher."  This person is the educator who allows you into his/her classroom for the school year and supervises you while you student teach for a semester.  With the way the program is set up at Clemson, most students don't have the opportunity to meet with a teacher prior to entering the classroom in the fall semester.  At orientation, information about subject matters and locations are gathered by a CU staff member, and then a committee of faculty and staff assign placements.  The committee has its list of "go-to" teachers and school districts, and many placement matches start there.  Placements haven't been finalized until August in past years, however this year the committee has a goal to assign all students to a certain classroom as early as possible.

Leave it to me to be the exception.

Let's go back to March when I first met with individuals from CU.  I had an opportunity to spend some time talking with a 2012-13 cohort member who also was the only chemist in her group.  After I ended up deciding to attend Clemson, I was able to get back into contact with this graduate student and scheduled a visit to her classroom for soon after I arrived in SC.  

My first visit was awesome.  I helped out with a lab, had lunch with the grad student and her CT, and then observed an honors class.  I really had a great time in the classroom and enjoyed talking with both professionals.  The CT talked a lot with me about my cohort.  She mentioned that one of the Clemson faculty members had told her she was going to be involved in the program for my cohort as well.  We started talking about pairing up and eventually decided we'd be a pretty good match.

I hadn't yet talked with anyone at Clemson about us meeting, but a few days after my visit I learned that the CT had spoken with a CU faculty member after meeting me, and that the faculty member was going to make the pairing happen for us.  I was super excited, of course, and soon scheduled another visit to her classroom.  Because of the block scheduling the school has, I was able to observe an entire different group of students for my second visit.  My CT suggested I visit on another lab day, which was awesome!  The students were able to take a simple experiment and test some variables to speed up their reactions.  It was awesome to see the students work together to try to reach the same goal: make it go faster!  After the lab, my CT and I were able to chat a little bit about my goals and hopes for the classroom.  We talked about this summer and how I wanted to be able to get a jump on the curriculum for next year.  She hooked me up with a couple of student textbooks and the standards and such for South Carolina.

Overall, she seems pretty amazing, and I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to meet with her and to have connected with her so quickly.  I mean, who knows how many teachers would have been so welcoming?  I know we're going to work great together!  She has a personality very similar to mine: she is very energetic and excited about chemistry and her students.  She honestly has already been such an inspiration to me and I've only seen her teach a few classes.  We're planning to meet up over the summer a few times, so that's fun too!

I'm not sure if any other students in my cohort know their placings yet, but I just feel like that's one less thing I can be worried about now.  I know when I walk into the classroom on the first day of school that I won't have to give another first impression.  I won't have to wonder if she'll feel comfortable with me because she has already let me work with the students at my own pace.  I'm excited to work with her, to learn from her, and to have her as a mentor.

Things couldn't be working out any better!  I'm so super pumped for next year.