VCSU's Education Program

Hello,
     I am currently attending Valley City State University for the Elementary Education Program.  This program prepares its students to be effective and passionate teachers.  This is my first semester with a majority of my classes being elementary education classes.  It is a large adjustment from the classes I am used to taking in college because these classes are more project based where most of my previous classes have been test based.
     Initially, I had a hard time adjusting to all the little projects assigned during each week but as the semester is continuing, handling all the little projects is getting a little bit easier. Even though it is stressful, I am glad we have project based classes because I think they help us prepare for a child's and elementary school's schedule.  Elementary schools are filled with many different activities that require many transitions led by teachers and since we are future teachers, we need to know how to transition quickly and efficiently between different projects. 
     As part of the Elementary education Program and my classes this semester, we have a 40 hour field experience in elementary education classrooms.  I was placed into a 4th grade classroom and have completed just around half of my hours so far.  This experience significantly helps me understand the objective behind different assignments and projects of my college classes where, without this field experience, I would not necessarily have understood the importance of many aspects of my classes. 
     My field experience has helped me so what an actual day as a teacher is like.  There are numerous transitions, little time to work on each subject, and different routines for the overall classroom as well as specific students.  It is really exciting on one end but also very intimidating on the other. 
     I am a multi-tasker by nature and I think that is both an advantage and disadvantage in the classroom.  I believe that it is an advantage in the sense of being able to complete multiple things at once, such as asking students whether they want hot or cold lunch while still keeping an eye out for each learner in classroom and making sure to meet their needs.  However, it is also a disadvantage because I often want to work on homework, projects, etc. while I am talking to someone else or listening to a movie, show, presentation, etc. but that is not approriate in the elementary school setting.  When you are with the learners, 100% of your attention needs to be on them, not the things you need to get done for that night or the next day. In addition, it would not be appropriate to work on other tasks while also paying attention and participating in a staff meeting because it is often seen as disrespectful, even though I am paying attention and absorbing what is going on and being said.  This will be a struggle for me, and already is in many of my education classes where I get in trouble for multi-tasking (a really big stress reliever for me) even though I am paying attention and tracking the information.
     Overall, I am learning many things every day, both formally and informally, and hopefully one day I can take all those things, descern which parts I want to absorb and/or adjust, and be a very effective and inspiring teacher.
    Thank you,
          Olivia