Bittersweet…

Well, tomorrow begins my last week in West Lafayette and here at Purdue. I must admit that it comes with some rather mixed emotions.

I am going to miss being a student as a I adjust to a permanent role in being a teacher. I am going to miss living with good friends and goofing around and laughing so hard we can’t control ourselves! I am going to miss Kossuth and the wonderful ministry it has been in my life the past 4 1/2 years. Knowing that each and every time I walk through those doors I am going to learn something new about God and my relationship with Him. I have never once left unchallenged.

While I am thrilled to be finished with my undergraduate degree and to start my career. It is sad and a little scary to start anew with so many things! And sometimes it feels like everything is coming at me all at once. So much change in such a short period of time. I’ll be going “home” to a place that doesn’t really feel like home anymore.

It’s strange to feel so scared and excited at the same time. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me. I know it is something amazing.

So here I go, flying into the unknown, knowing God will be holding me up all the way. I can only pray that I will land in Lafayette once again.

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD,for he has been good to me. [Psalm 13:5-6]

12 days and counting…

I think I did my math right on that…only 12 more days of student teaching! I couldn’t be happier. Don’t get me wrong, I have started to enjoy my students, but I am tired. Tired of working so hard as a full-time teacher without pay (while paying Purdue to do it), tired of writing pointless journals for Purdue, tired of being a student (for now), and just plain tired!

I can say, without a doubt, that this has been a great experience. I have learned countless things about how students learn, what motivates them to learn, and how I can be a better teacher. I have seen my strengths and weaknesses in practice, and I have had many opportunities to critically critique myself (my students are pretty good at doing that, too!)

I have learned to appreciate my own nerdiness and can say wholeheartedly that I genuinely care about each and every one of my students. They have such special things to offer this world, and my hope is that in my weeks of teaching them that gift sparked inside them…in some small way. I hope that they have gained a confidence in themselves and their ability to learn; whether it be math related or not.

It is so nice to hear that my students are disappointed that I will not be returning next semester and that I will be missed. I’ll miss their amazement at the PowerPoint presentations I make for each day, and hearing them say “Woah, did you just see that…she just clicked it and boom it appeared, Ms. Justice you are so cool! Isn’t that cool?” in response to the fact that I embedded a hyperlink in my lesson so that we could play a game online! Ha. Small things can make all the difference. I’ll be sure to never forget that!