And now it's over...but only beginning

These four weeks have been a whirlwind. Today as I drove home from my placement for the final time, I thought about my experience over these four weeks (and it's a pretty long drive so there's a lot to think about).

First, I can't believe how much I learned about "my" kids in such a short amount of time and how much I called them mine when I talked about placement to my roommates, friends, and family. For as much as I learned from them, I hope I left them with a little something. I taught for 1 full day, which was exhausting. For the other 6 days I was in their class, I observed them, co-taught with my c0-op, and worked through worksheets and problems with them. It's amazing how in just 7 visits over four weeks students impacted my knowledge and ideals of teaching.

The major things I learned was to have legit expectations. Sometimes, students have bad days. They are sick or just coming back from being sick. Sometimes there are things happening that I won't know about. But for the most part, they want to work hard and they want to graduate. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Especially if they are seniors ( which I worked with). Not so long ago, we were all in their shoes, looking towards bigger and brighter things and even now most of us are completing our senior year of college. We're getting that itch of being over school; being done with this part of our lives and ready to move onto the next chapter. Be empathetic but don't be a push over. My co-op did a great job of this and she showed a really good balance.

The other thing I learned as recently as today is sometimes teaching is like being a student. The hierarchy of school politics is much like that of the college. Presidents (Superintendents) make rules. Those rules are passed to deans (principals) who pass and enforce those rules onto professors (assistant principals) who then enforce rules on students (teachers). It all works in a chain and if one link gets broken, messages get misconstrued. Currently, there is no acting principal at Kennard-Dale. So for teachers, the rules are enforced by the assistant principals and even the superintendent. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to get mixed messages from different powers-that-be like I witnessed my teacher getting. It is difficult. But I think it's possible to get through if you love teaching and if you love your kids.

So next Tuesday, when I wake up at 8 instead of 5, I will think about what my co-op and her kids are doing in class. I know they will be reading Macbeth or doing research for their banned books project. I will miss them as I head off to my own classes and back to the life of a college student for the final week of my career here at Millersville. Soon, I will have another class to call "mine" for a short time. And hopefully after that I will have a class that will wholefully and fully be my own.