I cannot believe it, its finally December and that means I've finished my Long Practicum. It was a very rocky start, since I lost my motivation and drive to teach and I considered leaving the program wondering what the point of starting the semester with a teachers' strike. During the first week of Full Immersion, I began to wonder if I had bitten off more than I could chew.
I wanted to leave the program a few times, but ever time this negative feeling crept into the back of my mind, I remembered WHY I wanted to teach: I wanted to inspire other people and impact their lives. I would never be able to accomplish this if I left the program. I also remembered all the students I've helped so far, the teachers who supported and inspired me, and all the time and energy I spent.
My former students. My inspiring and supportive teachers. My time and energy. I couldn't leave. I invested too many things to get to this point just to throw it away on a negative feeling. There had to be something good somewhere.
And there was. I remembered that things worth doing are always hard. I realized that all of this was a test; I was being forged in the teacher's crucible, making sure I am physically, emotionally, and mentally strong enough and have the perseverance for this profession. I am. I KNOW I am. Making it to this point is proof that I am strong enough and have the perseverance to do so.
Perseverance. That is my word of the year, perhaps the word for the rest of my life. Every teacher colleague (we're no longer student teachers) in my LUC module has the same capacity of perseverance because they made it to the end of the program with me. Even though I still have a course to complete before I become a fully certified teacher, I am not going to let that stop me. My road to becoming an educator may be different from the rest of my teacher colleagues, but I am certain I will get there. I know I will.
Although this post seems slightly self-centered, I would like to point out that a person cannot persevere without support from others. I certainly did not re-discover my drive, motivation and passion to teach without support from family, friends and my SA at Chimney Hill. They helped me re-discover why I wanted to teach in the first place. They also pushed, encouraged, inspired me to strive to become the best teacher I could become. They were there to lend an empty ear as I vented to let off steam, became a shoulder to cry on, there to hand me a box of tissues when the shoulder became too wet, and were there to make me laugh when I needed to relax and take my mind off things even for a brief moment over jajangmyeon (Korean black bean noodles) and k-pop. To all of them, I extend my heartfelt thanks to them for all they have done to support me in this program.
And to you, my audience, my reader. You are the reason this blog exists. I want to thank you for reading this blog and most importantly, helping me see the positive things in challenging situations. You are the inspiration for fun things such as The Table, you helped me write once more. Which is something I love to do, but haven't done in a while. My heartfelt thanks to you as well.
I wanted to leave the program a few times, but ever time this negative feeling crept into the back of my mind, I remembered WHY I wanted to teach: I wanted to inspire other people and impact their lives. I would never be able to accomplish this if I left the program. I also remembered all the students I've helped so far, the teachers who supported and inspired me, and all the time and energy I spent.
My former students. My inspiring and supportive teachers. My time and energy. I couldn't leave. I invested too many things to get to this point just to throw it away on a negative feeling. There had to be something good somewhere.
And there was. I remembered that things worth doing are always hard. I realized that all of this was a test; I was being forged in the teacher's crucible, making sure I am physically, emotionally, and mentally strong enough and have the perseverance for this profession. I am. I KNOW I am. Making it to this point is proof that I am strong enough and have the perseverance to do so.
Perseverance. That is my word of the year, perhaps the word for the rest of my life. Every teacher colleague (we're no longer student teachers) in my LUC module has the same capacity of perseverance because they made it to the end of the program with me. Even though I still have a course to complete before I become a fully certified teacher, I am not going to let that stop me. My road to becoming an educator may be different from the rest of my teacher colleagues, but I am certain I will get there. I know I will.
Although this post seems slightly self-centered, I would like to point out that a person cannot persevere without support from others. I certainly did not re-discover my drive, motivation and passion to teach without support from family, friends and my SA at Chimney Hill. They helped me re-discover why I wanted to teach in the first place. They also pushed, encouraged, inspired me to strive to become the best teacher I could become. They were there to lend an empty ear as I vented to let off steam, became a shoulder to cry on, there to hand me a box of tissues when the shoulder became too wet, and were there to make me laugh when I needed to relax and take my mind off things even for a brief moment over jajangmyeon (Korean black bean noodles) and k-pop. To all of them, I extend my heartfelt thanks to them for all they have done to support me in this program.
And to you, my audience, my reader. You are the reason this blog exists. I want to thank you for reading this blog and most importantly, helping me see the positive things in challenging situations. You are the inspiration for fun things such as The Table, you helped me write once more. Which is something I love to do, but haven't done in a while. My heartfelt thanks to you as well.
But don't worry, this is not the end. I will keep adding more posts as time goes by. I will write for you soon, I promise!