CrossFit Athletic Group

Jacob has been putting in his time student teaching this semester at Hazel Parl High School, and I asked him to share his insights so far. He explains it in a style only Jacob is capable of. Enjoy!

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After Bridgette submitted an illuminated view into her dreary world of an unpaid laborer, Chris asked me to share my experiences this semester. Firstly, Like Rachael, I think most of what I have to do as a student teacher is mindless circlejerking of the academics who decide what determines whether a teacher is proficient or not. Things like filling out paperwork using words I don’t understand (Appropriately accounting for my students’ funds of knowledge when designing a content-rich, authentic formative assessment), meeting for 6 hours to talk about said aforementioned 50 cent words, and paying 8,000 dollars to do so.

Although it has been talked about ad nauseam, I will restate it here once again: We are living in a social media driven world in which everyone has the ability to perfectly curate their public image. To me, this has been an extremely negative experience, and I am at the age where people are 1-2 standard deviations further along in their path to adulthood than I currently am. This has always been the main driver behind my bouts with anxiety and depression, unwillingly comparing where I am in life, to where I think I should be, and every free minute gives more time for those thoughts to creep back into my head.

To steal a phrase from my latest Bumble date (sup Maria?), I strive off productivity . Therein lies the beauty of having structured and long days. Whether or not I feel like I am being productive with my time, at least I am spending it doing what I believe I should be doing. Moving the needle in the positive direction towards where I want to go. Without further adieu, here is what I’ve been up to for the last 3 months

• I wake up at 4 every morning so I can eat-workout-eat-shower before 645

• Eat the same 4 meals almost every day (although lately it’s been halloween candy and cheesecake. Plus freaking Tom won’t stop force feeding me every Saturday)

• Student teach a bunch of kids who have backgrounds worse than I would be able to deal with

• Coach my powerlifting team and small group sessions with middle schoolers

• Take classes about how to integrate technology into your lesson planning

• Tell Faust that test boosters are a waste of money

• Gamble on way too many games

I love every minute of every day and I’m pretty sure for the first time, in a very long time, I’m exactly where I want to be.