Well friends it's been a while since I have written about my adventures and to be honest that time has been spent finishing my student teaching entirely!!! I can't believe that I am done and I am almost certified for my classroom. Crazy thought, but that is reality is it not? Over the past few weeks, my thoughts about teaching have been varied. I have been in fifth grade, where content is taught, but the real lessons grasped during the day are more of respect, responsibility, and organization. As Melinda puts it, you are more of a camp counselor in fifth grade than an academic teacher in middle school. It has been beneficial for me to see both parts as I will, at some point, teach students like this. Knowing this, there have definitely been days of frustration, days of improvement, and glimmers of hope for this class.
This class for me has been a direct parallel almost to our walk with Christ. There were definite days that I couldn't see the potential or capability in kids, thought they were unlovable, or lost my patience with them. On those days I felt like giving up on them, but as we know that is not a choice for us as teachers, and neither is that in God's vocabulary either (thank goodness). By the end of my student teaching with them I felt this desire to want to see them progress into the class I know they can be. They are seriously like those inspirational educational movies that we all love, where the teacher doesn't know how to get through to them at the beginning and then she finally connects with them and they all reach their potential in the end. These kinds of classes takes work and discipline, but in the end there is always growth. We might not see that fruit this year, but it is there.
This is also why I have made my decision to go home to Texas on Nov 15 and return to the DR come next August. This decision came with much thought and analyzing and then again it just seemed simple. I know that sounds contrary, but it just seemed like this is something that I want to do more of than just 3 months and once I verbalized that I knew I wanted to come back for a longer period of time. Just wanted to fill yall in on my future as of late. Stay tuned for more:)