Week 15 Reflection

Wow! 15 weeks...complete. I cannot believe how quickly that time flew by me in my internship. Although it is exciting that I have completed this part of my final year, I am extremely sad to go.

Today, my class gave me a surprise going away party. I was given the most precious gift, and it was a handmade quilt with all of their names, personal drawings, and photographs of every student. I was absolutely speechless when I saw it. The valuable lesson I learned today is that you know you have reached the lives of your students when they hate to say goodbye. And I myself know that I have chosen the right career path, because it was one of the hardest moments in my life to say goodbye to my students as they left the classroom door to go onto their buses.

Now I want to take a look back on my entire experience. Day 1 I was unsure of what children would be walking through the door, unsure of how my host-teacher was going to expect her classroom to run, and I was unsure of what my semester withheld. Now, it is the last day, and my last day is officially completed. Words cannot even begin to describe how much I have learned over the course of the past 15 weeks. I also cannot begin to explain how much I have seen myself grow as time progressed throughout my experience.

Over the course of my 15 weeks with my students I was able to experience difficult moments, proud moments, hilarious moments, sad moments, and unexpected moments. Every day was a different experience and that is one of the main reasons why teaching is such an amazing career. I was able to see my students grow (literally!) and figuratively meaning through their learning. I was able to see students blossom with confidence, see friendships form, and also see personalities come to life. When I say that my experience leaves my speechless, I do not mean this in a bad way. I know that I will forever be touched by my experiences I have gone through. If I were to write them all down, this blog would turn into a novel. So, I guess what I am trying to say is that my internship provided me with a strong foundation for my future career. I feel as if I was able to experience, in some way or another, many possibilities of what could occur for years to come. And I will never be able to say thank you enough to all of the faculty members and students who have helped me along this journey.

And I am proud to say, I am one step closer to becoming an educator with her own classroom and her own students and I have never felt more prepared and eager to begin!