Starting at the beginning of this semester, I have a student teacher- Randon Ruggles. He is part of the Wartburg West program out of Iowa, and had followed my colleague Karl Fisch’s blog. He wanted to be at our school because of Karl and so the administration  had asked Kristin Leclaire and I if he could student teach with us since we have a 21^st century 1-1 classroom.  We agreed and have been enjoying the experience.  Interestingly enough, Kristin and I were presenting at NCTE this year and Randon let us know that he was going as well. We had thought up till that point that we weren’t going to be able to meet him until the first day of school second semester, but this gave us a unique opportunity to establish a connection with him before he started teaching. We were able to spend two days with him there in San Antonio and he was able to see us present on the changes we are making in our classroom.

 Additionally, another great opportunity to build a connection came before his student teaching when he decided over Christmas break to come to Colorado early so that we could get to know him. He came over and celebrated the New Year with Kristin and I as well as our spouses and friends.  This really gave us I believe a valuable background or foundation to build upon because he knew us outside of school before he knew us inside.

  I hope that I really foster a beneficial mentor/mentee relationship where we are open with one another, pushing one another, and ultimately both growing because of the experience. I have had friends who have had student teachers and have not enjoyed the experience. I myself had a wonderful student teaching experience and so I want to make sure that Randon does as well.  I want us to both be better versions of ourselves at the end of this mentorship, I want our students to be more successful because of having both Randon and I teach them, and of course, to change the world.

Blogs about mentoring:

Mr. Ruggles first day

If I could just keep my mouth shut

I know I signed up to be a mentor

Tough times

AR Cycle 3 Round 1

Student teaching half way point

Student teacher blog: (perspective of my mentee)

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