Truly Eye Opening

I have had a hard time figuring out exactly what I have wanted to say about my student teaching experience. To say the least, it has been eye opening.

I spent my first semester at a local high school, and although it totally changed my beliefs of working with high school students, I knew where I wanted to be (7th or 8th grade). This being said, I now have a new appreciation of how mature the sophomores I was working with were. I also appreciate how much more work 7th and 8th graders do in comparison to my sophomores that were totally uninterested. At least most of my middle school students will do their work!

I think that one of the most important parts of my student teaching experience, outside of the teaching aspect, has been the reflective one. There have been nights where I went back to my dorm room and just cried. The lives of some of my students are not ones to write home about. Most days I feel so inadequate, and yet, its my students that keep me going. Working at a school that is very low income has taught me that the students really look to their teachers as role models, and oftentimes for some type of affection that they will not receive at home. Some of my best students have the saddest stories, and yet they keep trucking, but what keeps them going is the teachers that work with them.

Although I knew I was doing a decent job at my placement, and have made a lot of connections with students, it was one particular interaction that will make leaving the hardest I believe. I was talking with some of my REAL (homeroom) students about my graduation, and that May 5th would be my last day with them. One of the more difficult students who I had been working extensively with looked at me and said "...you're leaving soon? But, you're the only teacher here that likes me."

That. That interaction made this whole semester of tears, frustration, but all encompassing happiness worth it.