For the past 16 weeks Kalona Elementary and Mid Prairie Middle School were very fortunate to have a fantastic student teacher from the University of Iowa. Pei Huang came to us from China and spent time teaching her language and culture to every student from grades Kindergarten through Seventh grade. The students and I learned many fantastic things and we all felt honored to be in her class. I enjoyed the chance to pass on what I have learned in my short time teaching. I can only hope that she picked up more of my good habits rather than my bad habits. One of the best things about having a student teacher is it makes you be very reflective of your own teaching so as to make them the best examples possible. I learned long ago we all teach as we have learned so I tried to be conscious of that point as I tried to be a fitting mentor.
Seeing a new teacher go through all the steps of learning the craft, teaching students, and eventually moving on to their own classes is a heartening thing. Pei will be moving to White Bear Lake Minnesota to start her own teaching journey. I am sure those students will benefit from her as much as our own benefited here.
