Thursday, October 28, 2010

Hope

I work at a community school. Before going there for my internship I had no idea what that meant...Teaching there requires me to be patient, understanding and always compassionate. It is different from working in any other school. The school that I work at has children who are impoverished and many have problems at home. I had a wonderful upbringing, we had money, food, clothing, shelter, a stable environment. I don't know how to relate. I am a bleeding heart and feel that I have some compassion but I will NEVER know what it is like to walk in some of these kids shoes. I find each day I learn something new about myself and about those different from me. I also find that each and every day I realize how fortunate I have been and how some are handed the short end of the stick at birth. I have fallen in love with my kids and even though some days are trying(today was one of those days) I still have hope. Hope that they will succeed, hope that I will have an impact on their life, hope that they can get out of what they are in and find happiness, hope that they will not get into trouble, hope that they will indeed have hope.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Joys of Teaching


Hello strangers!

It seems as if I have been on hiatus for some time now and I guess I have been...
My life has been wonderful but crazy and busy! I am finally a teacher! (this is a little before the fact I guess but truly I am). I am doing my internship and it is going wonderfully. My cooperating teacher is from Chile and he is great. The thing is he thinks I am such a great teacher and wants to learn from me(if you can believe that). I just had my midterm assessment and not one bad thing was said. I have learned as a teacher you have to think on your feet and you can plan and prepare all you want but things NEVER go as planned. I feel I am doing really well and the weeks are flying by and I am learning and growing each and every day. I feel exhausted every night and pass out around 930pm. I run all day long but I know this is my calling, this is what I was meant to do, this is ME. I love being around the kids and making them laugh and having fun with them. I have also learned that to earn respect and to get them to achieve something you have to be hard and unbending sometimes. This is the easiest and the hardest job I have ever done and I never want to do anything else. The best feeling in life is making a difference in a child's life(making them laugh, making them understand something, making them love to learn). I am enjoying my little caterpillars right now;-)