Week 1 of Student Teaching

Weeks before you begin your student teaching you hear the same warning alert sirening off at every meeting, conference, or even peer discussion: Prepare for the worst. They tell you it is going to be the hardest, worst, days of your life. That you will cry and want to quit, but if you can just make it through then it will all get easier with time and they promise it will be worth it...well at least some of them do. And here I am at the end of my first week more excited for the next one. Maybe it was because I started this week off with the flu and about anything is better than waking up with a fever a 3am puking your guts out, but for some reason, I went home my first day, second day, third day, thinking 

I could do this for the rest of my life. 

The thought literally stopped me. Frankly, it shocked me. I didn't expect to love this profession. I have had a tab open for the Masters in Fine Arts program for weeks now because I thought I should have a backup for not if but when I would open my eyes and realize that I had made a terrible mistake by going into this profession. Everyone told me I would, so why not be prepared, right? 

There was one part of it all I wasn't prepared for: to love it. I didn't expect myself to be going to sleep with lesson plans playing through my mind, not out of anxiousness, but out of pure enjoyment. I have station packets ready for Monday and was thrilled to tell my roommate, my mom, my sister, my boyfriend, and anyone really about what my students have in store for them after the weekend. 

It feels so weird admitting this to the universe. And I have a fear that now that it knows what I love it's going to dump the worst problems in the world onto me this semester. But for now, I'll live in the honeymoon phase of education that no one talks about. Maybe it is similar to how there is this known unwritten rule that your friend isn't supposed to post pictures of her and her new husband together while they are on their honeymoon. All the single ladies just roll their eyes and roll their eyes saying we get it, we get it you're in love. Maybe that's why no one talks about the honeymoon period of student teaching. They are worried it will upset the ones who aren't having the best first week ever, or perhaps those that divorced education a few years ago, and any sight of a happy teacher makes them sick. 

Whatever the reason, maybe it's time we do the taboo and talk about the happy days of teaching. Perhaps we dare tell others that we actually, genuinely love what we are doing and nothing else in the world would we wake up at 6am for so voluntarily. Even if it only lasts a week, maybe we talk about it. Because maybe, just maybe it's contagious. 

A few highlights:

-THE STUDENTS: Oh my goodness they are precious pupils. I assigned an American Dream Vision Board and have loved looking at their hopes and dreams. They want so much out of this life and seeing that restores a bit of peace in my soul. All you ever hear about these days is how today's teens lack ambition and just want to coast through life. But in one assignment, I see that they want to do so much and many of them truly believe it could happen. We also set goals together and when I went around and saw that one boy put his goal "To Believe in Myself" I wanted to cry. I just looked at him, gave him a fist bump, and said I love that because I really do. I love when students recognize that sometimes it's their own mindset keeping them from changing the world. I hope I can help him reach that goal this semester, simply by believing in him.

-THE ROUTINE: I thrive with structure, so having a bedtime, a purpose to wake up in the morning, people that need me and rely on me, and just the feeling that I am part of something that matters is so good for my mental health. I like making a plan and executing it; I feel so accomplished. So the routine of teaching has been something I didn't think I would enjoy but really do love. 

-THE HELP: Student teaching is the dream because you get to do whatever you want, plan your dream lessons, assessments, etc. with all the resources you could possibly imagine at your fingertips, in a classroom already supplied for you. I get to use the brains of my coordinating teacher, and supplies, AND feel free in the process. I have loved my coordinating teacher and having her be by my side throughout this whole learning curve. She truly is the best.