One of the Best Years

After obtaining my BA degree, in English , from The College of Idaho, I have just finished one of the best, and most valuable, years of my life.

The hours have barely begun to add up after the final day of classes at Skyview High School, and I cannot help but feel a longing for that classroom and those students.

At the beginning of the year I was nervous and wasn't sure of what exactly to expect. I knew I'd be teaching. I knew that I'd be collaborating. i knew that I'd be learning. i knew so many things, but how does it all culminate together? That's what I did not know.

If someone had asked me what the year meant to me then, i would have told them it meant a lot of money and time. Now, however, it means so much more.

Throughout the course of the year, I made a lot of friends that I did not expect to make. From administrators to students, each with their own unique boundaries and expectations.

So much laughter. So much joy. So much togetherness was to be found walking the hallways of the school in which I was interning. At the beginning of the year, I was just another student, even to many of the other teachers. By the end of the year, I was a colleague and friend. My voice was heard and respected; I was no longer just another kid that was there to learn, I was a full participant in the workings of the school and the education of every student that I came into contact with.

What made the year especially unique was how my student teaching went. It was initially intended to be a situation in which I was in complete control. However, given the nature and level of the students, my lead teacher and I discussed and decided that we would approach the year with a co-teaching method. We began to discuss and formulate a plan that was ultimately approved by both the school and my college adviser(s). We placed that into action and immediately began to teach as a team, for the benefit of all of our students. We made sure that there was a way in which I was more of the main teacher at times, and vice-versa. All-in-all, however, we spent as much time as we could doing whatever we could for the benefit of our students.

Many of the students were unsure of what to make of a student teacher in their classroom, but it did not take them long to adjust. Before I knew it, I was considered another full fledged teacher to many of them. The relationships that formed were fantastic and incredible. As the year drew to a close, many of the student came and expressed deep sadness that I would not be a part of the staff next year.

I loved to express my heart felt love and desire for learning and ELA. I love to be flexible in my abilities and expressions of learning so that the students might be more engaged and ready to learn. I loved to relate to the students in my own special ways, from odd jokes to video games to simply just be exited to be there.

It was by the end of this, my internship year, that I found myself thinking that this year was most definitely one of the best decisions, one of the best years, of my life.