It is hard to believe that this crazy semester has finally come to an end. The end of my college career is actually here now. I am in actual disbelief that I survived this bizarre semester, and I actually came out in one piece.
Truthfully, this has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my life. I am not going to lie to you and say that it was all smiles and fun. You truly have to work as hard as you possibly can and put everything into this time. However, I can promise you the hard work is worth every single second. I got to try so many things from my Pinterest board, I got to meet so many new people, and I was able to gain experience in new environments.
From start to finish, I was thrown into an odd arrangement with my cooperating teacher as he was not the ideal teacher; however, this allowed me to be a lead teacher for 11 out of the 16 total weeks. I would not trade this experience for the world. Because of my less than ideal cooperating teacher, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to meet many new teachers and collaborate with them. I was able to make the classroom my own, with my own decorations and procedures. I was able to observe many other teaching styles and collaborate in co-teaching environments. I was able to meet and build relationships with some fantastic students. I was able to get a full-time job.
Yes, I am one of the lucky few who received a job offer (and accepted it) prior to graduation. But I know in my heart that I earned that position. I worked as hard as possible building interactive, differentiated lessons for my students. I got to school early, stayed late, and worked through my lunch period to learn from other teachers and get involved in as many ways as possible.
Student teaching was a period of growth for me. I was put in a unique situation which allowed me to branch out on my own and push myself to learn as much as I could. For anyone, regardless of your placement or cooperating teacher, student teaching is a time to put yourself out there and truly put everything into it to try new things and learn so much. I would not and could not trade this experience for anything and I look forward to assisting future student teachers through their process as it is a challenging, yet very rewarding experience.