I have learned more in these past 8 weeks than I thought I ever would imagine. Being able to have this opportunity has helped me set goals for myself & made me feel I am closer to the person I am suppose to be. I remember when we got the email back in September saying what school we were being placed at & me thinking ‘This is legit. This is really happening.” Seeing I was placed at Regina Huda School made me very excited because I knew I was going to encounter experiences that my other classmates were not going to have at their school.
Regina Huda School was one of the most welcoming environments I have ever been in. The Principal, staff & students are all so happy to be there & are happy that YOU are there! Anytime I would walk down the hallway whether it was to get a drink of water, or to go outside for recess, a student or teacher would say hi to me which felt so welcoming. It made me realize that it is nice to be noticed in an environment you are not used too. It became a big takeaway for me from this experience because I want to make people feel the way I felt in a new environment. A smile and a hello really does go a long way!
I have learned so much over the course of these 8 weeks. My knowledge expanded on inclusion, different cultures & their beliefs, & mannerisms. I have also realized how much growing I still have to do in these next 3 years of schooling. Being a teacher is not an 8:30-3:30 job Monday-Friday for 10 months of the year. Teachers work long hours each day & weekends making lesson plans or marking assignments. They go above & beyond because they want to give students the best education they possibly can. My teacher gave me a lot of advice, but one thing that she said to me that really stuck with me is that
“the first 2-3 years of you being a teacher might feel as though you are failing your students. You’re going to get up in front of the class at times & feel like you have no idea what you are doing, but you are actually doing better than what you realize. You are so hard on yourself in those first couple years that you don’t realize how good of a job you really are doing. It does, & it will get easier. It takes practice, just like anything else would.”
Hearing that really made me feel a little more at ease & I appreciate the other advice she had given me. I am so excited for this wonderful journey I am on because I know this is just the beginning of it and I have so much room for growth and opportunity to become a better educator.