Well Internship Is Over, Now What?

I still remember my first day at university – really it feels like it was yesterday (just with a bunch of great events and memories that somehow happened in between there!).  But now, here I’m saying: It has been over two months since I completed my internship… WOW! To finally be able to say those words and knowing that I have 2 months left of university left… well… it’s absolutely insane! I can’t believe how my journey through university has gone by so fast (I truly am beginning to believe the expression “where did the time go?”).  

To comment on my internship, words cannot even begin to express how thankful I am for the people I was surrounded with during my experience.  As much work as it was, I enjoyed every minute of it.  And every morning, I didn’t wake up thinking “Ugh, now to go to my job… can’t wait till 3:30 comes!” Instead, I woke up every day excited for what was going to happen next and to surround myself with the positive support network that I had.  Yes, there were days when I could have wished for a few more minutes of sleep or even wished a redo for a day/lesson, but I always went to school feeling excited.  When end of December came, it just didn’t feel right leaving – I was very nervous to come back to school to be a student again!

So now that internship is done, I’m in my last semester of university.  To say the least, the teacher back to student transition has been a bit rough for me.  I feel like my rating as a student fluctuates constantly between a good student and the worst procrastinator in the world.  There are times when I tackle homework and actually surprise myself in what I have accomplished work-wise.  But then there are times when my mind starts to wonder from what my students are doing, how they are doing, and how much I miss teaching and being in the classroom.

Because I had taken a few summer classes during my summers, I am only taking 3 classes, and wow! What a huge help this has been (I definitely encourage everyone to do this!).  I am finally able to start relaxing and take a break from internship and I now even have time for a job (which is at the university).  Dealing with loans this year has been a huge struggle and now having the time to be able to work has been awesome! So right now, I’m working and in university and I’m still able to find the time to relax and actually blog (I have surprised myself with this, but I really do miss blogging – however now that I announce that to the world… I will probably fall off the band wagon again and not post for another month or two…).

Anyways, so now all that is left for my time at the university is to hopefully stay on my “good student” self rating and get through this last semester.  Also, it is currently job application time so wish me luck (which I will add is not easy! There are so many possibilities and considerations to make! Oh boy!)!  And to all you future educators and those graduating, good luck and I hope your university experience has been as amazing as mine! I hope you see you all on the flip side!!!

And hey! While I’m at it, I just wanted to thank all the people in my life for being so supportive and caring.  I know that having to deal with me at times can be difficult but it’s everyone in my life that has helped me get to where I am now. 🙂

The First Week – Huge Respect for Substitutes!

September 3rd-6th

So first week… what can I say? It had it’s ups and downs which is to be expected.  I began the semester by teaching Workplace and Apprenticeship 30 class (for those who don’t know, this is a grade 12 math class).

So, the very first day of class I only had my students for 20 minutes since we had an assembly part way through the class.  This was okay but it felt very chaotic.  I had a few things planned but with my mind running everywhere, I came off as very disorganized and did not have a teacher presence/authority.  The next day, however, I feel like my teacher authority came out when discussing the classroom expectations and rules and that I finally had established myself as a teacher (and not as some young person who thinks they can teach but can easily be run over by the students).

Things seemed like they were going well until my teacher had asked me to try “subbing” for one of her classes (don’t worry there was another teacher present!).  I asked what class it was and when she said “Foundations 10,” I figured “Hey, it’s grade 10 math! This should be a piece of cake!”   Was I ever wrong! The material that was being taught that day was converting units in the Imperial system (US metric system).  This was most definitely not on the top of my “most favourite topics in math” list.  In fact, I feel like I have put a block on this high school memory and I actually don’t remember learning it.  Asking my friends, they admit that they learned this material so I have come to the conclusion that I just chose to forget it because it was that horrid! So, if you could guess, this lesson did not go so well! I had trouble explaining the material and we actually ended up moving to the assignment and not finishing the examples (with the promise that my co-op would go over it the next day).  The one thing that I remember clearly in my mind is the fact that I kept trying to hint for the actual substitute teacher to take over (because he knew the material very well!) but he wouldn’t.  However, as sad as I had become about this lesson, this was a huge learning experience for me and I’m glad that he didn’t let me back out.  The next day I apologized to the class and taught the last example to the students. By doing this, I hoped that I could redeem myself as a teacher in those students eyes (which is huge I feel because I will be teaching them in about a month!).

With that said, my actual class went very well and I have already learned a lot! The sub day had me question myself as a teacher but you know what? We all have our bad days! It’s going to be okay and you know what? It’s only my first week! It’s not expected to go great! Internship is where you should be taking risks and making mistakes.  Just know that if you make mistakes, take them as a learning opportunity and don’t let it get you down!