Saying Goodbye | Internship Reflection 10

     Last week was my final week in the school as part of my internship. As I announced that I was leaving to my six different classes, I was met with a lot of resistance and questions. My students complained that it was not fair that I was leaving and asked me why I had to go already. Even the class that caused me the most trouble and stress had a tough time accepting that I was leaving. The experience was both sad and touching for me, because I was also feeling a little resistant about leaving these classes with whom I had spent the past semester (or for two of the classes, year). Saying goodbye to my students and my mentor teacher made me think about how much my understanding of and approach to teaching had changed through my internship experience.
     When I began my internship, I knew that teaching was hard, but I don't think I realized just how hard it was. There were several days during this internship where I left school feeling run down and frustrated, wondering if I was ever going to get the hang of things. Whether it was students that refused to listen to me, a concept that they just couldn't seem to grasp, or technology issues that prevented me from presenting an important component of my lesson, some days just went completely wrong. These days made me appreciate the importance of patience, empathy, and flexibility. I learned to stay calm when students were aggravating me, I learned to look for external factors that may be impacting a kid's ability to engage with my lessons, and I learned to always have a back up plan. Basically, I began to approach bad days as a lesson on how to be a better educator in the future. If I expect my students to come up with solutions when they encounter a problem, I should be doing the same thing. This internship helped me to be a better problem solver.
     Despite how it feels on the bad days, though, most days were not bad. On the good days, my passion for helping others understand science was reinforced. I got to see over and over again how great it is for a student's eyes to light up in understanding and curiosity. I watched students become filled to the brim with questions about how things worked and a desire to learn more than I had time to teach them. I laughed more times that I can count at my students' cleverness and ingenuity. I felt my heart warm as I watched students work with each other to figure out a problem, rather than ask me. I swelled with pride when a student who was previously uninterested in science raised his hand and correctly answered a question that no one else could figure out. On the good days, I learned how amazing it is to be a teacher.
     Teaching can be unpredictable and exciting, draining and rewarding. Regardless of what we, as teacher, are covering in the classroom, we are also learning daily from our students. A day that I am not learning while in the classroom is a day that I am not being an effective teacher. This is the most important lesson I learned from my internship. Overall, my internship was an excellent and rewarding experience. I adored my kids and am so grateful that I was placed with such an open-minded and supportive mentor teacher. I will carry the things that I learned and the experiences that I had over the past several months with me as I continue to move through life and the world of education.