Student Teaching - Update
There are many times when I wonder
if I am doing this whole teaching thing right. A lesson may not go as planned,
students are restless or bored, or the lesson completely flops in my eyes.
Those days are hard to get over and make me wonder if I am meant for this whole
teaching profession. I remember sharing my feelings about these kind of days
with my friends a few weeks ago:
After having a lesson bomb
yesterday, I have awoken this morning and find myself having a major case of
the “I don’t know if I can do this” this morning.
I was given a great piece of advice
from a friend that has helped me continue on my journey without being so hard
on myself:
One day is not the determination of
your ability. If that’s how parenting worked I would be well past screwed. Let
yesterday be yesterday and go from here. Because you can do it. And learn from
the mistake. Also important.
This dear friend is a single mother
of 4 children, a widow and a divorcee. Of all people to make this statement to
me, I feel as if it means the most coming from her, knowing only a glimpse of
what she has had to endure in her life. She understands the hard days and knows
that it is important to just keep trying.
There are also days when my
students let me know I’m doing alright and that they are learning. Then there
are days where my students say things that make me stop and smile on the
outside while jumping for joy on the inside. These are days when my students
not only remember learning something that I am discussing in class, but when
they remember I was the one that taught that bit of information to them. Like when I had a
student remember how to convert a fraction to a percent and he said something
like “just like you taught us”. Hearing those words come out of the mouth of a
student make the bad days disappear and help me to realize that I am being
effective and that while I still have room to improve, I am making a
difference. And my students are noticing.
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