Thursday, November 15, 2007

Extended Day Training (Danielle Clark)

Question: Dear Danielle,
You spent a couple of years at Chets as an extended day teacher before you "officially" joined us! I've already thought that would be a great training ground for future teachers. How did that experience help to prepare you for the "real world" of teaching?
Cindy Tsengas

P.S. - I've been impressed with you during the past couple of years!


Thank you Cindy:) Extended Day was a great place to tart my future teaching career. it was the perfect place to practice my upcoming lessons for my pre-internship classes and a great way to learn classroom management! I would stay after wide-eyed at the great Chets Creek teachers and their amazing classrooms everyday trying to soak in as much as possible. Extended Day also taught me that children need structure, if I did not structure my afternoon and have some daily routines the three hours of Extended Day would feel like six. the one area that Extended Day did not prepare me for was parents. In Extended Day you get to enjoy your students and their smiling faces and then when their name is called over the walkie you send them on their way. when i finally go the fantastic opportunity to do Elizabeth Conte's maternity leave I learned how valuable parents were to my classroom as well as the challenges they brought. After my experience Elizabeth's room I felt confident about beginning my career as a professional educator. overall, I know that being an Extended Day Instructor has profoundly impacted my professional career as an educator, and I loved every minute of it :)

Danielle

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