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!