Oh, this might work. But then again...

The beginning of a full-time student teaching schedule has brought about a whole new dynamic to teaching. Suddenly, my greatest ideas are just good thoughts and my most prized lesson plans wouldn't cover the smallest of what goes into one class period of American Literature in one day.
Take a groupwork activity, for example. There are thirty students zoned into a time and a place called seventh hour on a Monday. This group activity should take no more than 25 mintues. Students will read a chapter out loud and answer the questions, no big deal. Nice idea. In college education courses I would write it down like this:
Groupwork. Students will read chapter out loud and answer questions. (took me 10 seconds to write)
But in a real classroom with real students and with real considerations, maybe I should have written this in college education classes:
Groupwork. Before students are assigned to groups, make sure they understand the assignment. Be prepared to explain it four different times in three different ways and to write directions on the board. Oh, and don't forget to explain that the group with four guys should keep reading together, and the group with two giggly girls can't possibly think Huck Finn is so hilarious, and the yardstick should NOT go down a student's shirt: "what are you doing anyway?" I ask. Be prepared to redirect ten different conversations and to be sociable without distracting the students. Be prepared for those students who haven't read the chapter and for those who haven't read but pretend like they have and for those who have read but won't talk and for those who have read and want to talk all the time. Be prepared for interruptions: "Miss Boman, can we...." "Miss Boman, I have to use the bathroom" "Miss Boman, what does this have to do with anything?" "Miss Boman, you going to the game tonight?" Be prepared for those who put the worksheet in their bag and say they'll do it that evening. Be prepared to have created a lesson, complete with all worksheets, projects, assignments, assessments, main questions, etc, that in no way matches the amount of time students use these artifacts.
So if that's one 25 minute lesson, what the heck am I teaching for?
Oh yeah. Did I mention my students are amazing and I can see potential rising up out of each one of them every time I see their faces in the halls or grade one of their essays or quickwrites or worksheets?
And it's a give and take situation, because in the midst of that one 25 minute lesson, I'm thinking a hundred different things a new teacher should think.
And don't forget about introductions, connective and integrative concepts, and conclusions. And don't forget about the fact that in two weeks, they might not remember this groupwork lesson.
So as I think again at those merciful college professors, who said my ideas were great and were sure to challenge students, I realize now that an engaging lesson does not come with a one-sentence "Have students do this..." plan. It requires so much more.
So much so that I probably shouldn't be writing this right now at 10 pm when I have a whole day to plan for tomorrow.
Ephesians 4: "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
So is this life worthy?
I hope so.