“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
Jimmy Dean
"Second star on the right, and straight on till morning" - Peter Pan
Standing on the edge of an abyss, looking into the black vortex, which is my future. An inch forward and I'll fall head first into an unforeseeable future. An inch back and I may be turning away from the best opportunity ever. All of this raced through my head, or at least something similar, while enjoying my toast and fruit smoothie at breakfast.
Last week I met my teacher advisor, and was introduced to the classroom and school that I will be spending 5 weeks in, during my practicum. This will be the biggest step towards my future career of teaching that I have faced up to date, and to say that I am nervous is an understatement. I am also, excited, enthralled, energetic, enthusiastic, ecstatic, ummmm electrified.... ok I've run out of E words, back to the point. With all this going on around me, I was reminded just how long it's been since I've truly had my own first day of school. Wondering where I need to be, if the other kids would like me, and just what I was meant to do now? This anxiety stayed with me until that instant when I realized my future students were thinking the exact same thing, as was my TA. Here I was a student, putting my trust in 20 plus 7-8 year olds and their teacher to provide me with the tools I need to become a productive, if not, a successful teacher. That's a remarkable amount of pressure on them, which kind of makes me realize how easy I have it. Well except for that whole teaching thing, but I digress.
PS1 is a time for me to discover who I am as a teacher, and in order to do that I need to be willing to try different approaches, and dare I say it, fail a time or two. But it is with those failures that I will be able to rise from the ashes and learn the valuable lessons, of what went wrong and how best to fix it so it doesn’t happen again. Of course I know this will be no easy task, and I’m glad of the challenge. Already I’ve fought with my own inabilities every step of the way, so why stop now, where would be the learning if I breezed through the semester. I am expecting to crawl into a corner and listening to sad music, while rocking myself, breathing into a paper bag. Yet I know there will be those other days, when I will jump for joy and high five everyone in my proximity, after a job well done. Let’s hope that when I’m left orientating myself, my sails fill with wind and lead me in the direction of the star over the second outcome… I like high fives.
Jimmy Dean
"Second star on the right, and straight on till morning" - Peter Pan
Standing on the edge of an abyss, looking into the black vortex, which is my future. An inch forward and I'll fall head first into an unforeseeable future. An inch back and I may be turning away from the best opportunity ever. All of this raced through my head, or at least something similar, while enjoying my toast and fruit smoothie at breakfast.
Last week I met my teacher advisor, and was introduced to the classroom and school that I will be spending 5 weeks in, during my practicum. This will be the biggest step towards my future career of teaching that I have faced up to date, and to say that I am nervous is an understatement. I am also, excited, enthralled, energetic, enthusiastic, ecstatic, ummmm electrified.... ok I've run out of E words, back to the point. With all this going on around me, I was reminded just how long it's been since I've truly had my own first day of school. Wondering where I need to be, if the other kids would like me, and just what I was meant to do now? This anxiety stayed with me until that instant when I realized my future students were thinking the exact same thing, as was my TA. Here I was a student, putting my trust in 20 plus 7-8 year olds and their teacher to provide me with the tools I need to become a productive, if not, a successful teacher. That's a remarkable amount of pressure on them, which kind of makes me realize how easy I have it. Well except for that whole teaching thing, but I digress.
PS1 is a time for me to discover who I am as a teacher, and in order to do that I need to be willing to try different approaches, and dare I say it, fail a time or two. But it is with those failures that I will be able to rise from the ashes and learn the valuable lessons, of what went wrong and how best to fix it so it doesn’t happen again. Of course I know this will be no easy task, and I’m glad of the challenge. Already I’ve fought with my own inabilities every step of the way, so why stop now, where would be the learning if I breezed through the semester. I am expecting to crawl into a corner and listening to sad music, while rocking myself, breathing into a paper bag. Yet I know there will be those other days, when I will jump for joy and high five everyone in my proximity, after a job well done. Let’s hope that when I’m left orientating myself, my sails fill with wind and lead me in the direction of the star over the second outcome… I like high fives.