To say that I have slacked at this whole blog thing is an understatement. It isn't that I haven't had things to say, because I have. I just haven't had the extra time to keep up with it. For those of you who like to harass me about being behind, this one is for you (Karissa). It may not be my best, but enjoy it nonetheless.
So what has been going on in my life for the past eight weeks?
I started and finished my second student teaching placement in middle school. I have learned so much about myself through this. I most definitely want to teach middle school. Middle schoolers are awesome. They have no problem telling you about their lives. Every. single. detail. of. every. minute. of. their. lives. They honestly think you need to know it all. Which is fine. I listened and they talked. They are also so incredibly honest. I don't think that they have filters yet for what is appropriate to say and what is not. It is true when they say that kids say the darnedest things. I loved getting to know my students on a personal level. Even though I had 85 students, I can honestly say that I knew something personal about around 85% of them. This is how I want it to be when I have a class of my own.
In addition to all of that, they think that you are the coolest person ever. They set out to impress you. They are so interested in the details of your life and like to provide a commentary. Apparently getting to work at Tops is awesome and there could be nothing better. I also found it amazing when I made connections with my students over random things. They knew that I spent part of my summer at an orphanage in the DR and I got talking to one of my students one day and found out that she was adopted from an orphanage in Brazil when she was 6. I loved hearing about her experiences before she was adopted.
Through this, I have learned the importance of really investing time into my students, even when I really don't feel like it or when I don't think it is working. They respect you so much more as a teacher when you do this. It was awesome and surprising to hear that I was different than any of the other student teachers they had this year. They said that I really cared about them and was open to answering questions about my life. They wanted to know what was so different about me compared to the other student teachers. I think that this is a testament to the work of God in my life. I would probably go crazy working with them if God hadn't given me a passion for teaching middle school and if He hadn't showed me how to love even the students that drive me nuts. It goes back to an earlier post where I referred to the song "What Love Really Means" by JJ Heller. I think that I really lived this out during this placement. It was sad to leave them! I will most definitely miss each and every one of them. I told them on the last day that I really believe they are all going to go great places in life and that I would miss them so much. I am hoping to be able to go back and visit them.
So the question you may be asking now is now what? What are you going to do now? I am graduating college tomorrow (more on that soon). I will go back to working at Tops, substitute teach, put all my energy into working with the youth group and looking for jobs. I am just going to take it one day at a time.
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