Online Reflection #4: Dear Me

Dear Me,

You.  Are.  So.  Close.  Two and a half more weeks and you will walk across the stage and receive your diploma.  Your road to becoming an English teacher has been paved with struggles, triumphs, late nights, way-too-early mornings, and (literally) blood, sweat, and tears.  As your final semester as an undergraduate draws to a close, purpose to insightfully reflect on a few aspects of your final years as a pre-service teacher.

You have done an excellent job with your time management as a student teacher.  Your organizational skills were impeccable; you divided your time and efforts as equally as possible among planning, teaching, grading, and homework.  You established a daily “quitting time” for yourself (after all, you DO have a life and you did NOT want your husband to forget your name…) and you took the well-intentioned advice of others regarding lesson plans, classroom activities, and management techniques.  Furthermore, your rapport with your students was top-notch.  You truly love being around them (even the…challenging ones…) and many have confided in you that you are their “favorite teacher.”  You exhibited a level of patience with teenagers that the title of “Teacher” clearly demands—even when they didn’t deserve your patience.  Even when mentally, you were screaming and banging your head against a brick wall.  But perhaps most importantly, you provided your students with challenging, memorable learning activities that facilitated independent thinking AND collaboration.  YOU helped them learn.  YOU proved to them that you believed they could succeed—and succeed they did!

For future reference:

• You are NOT above asking someone to help you make double-sided copies.  The copier is a     machine.  It will not mock you.  Throw your pride aside and seek out the answers to stuff you don’t understand.  People WILL help you—they were once in your position. 

• Do not compromise your classroom rules/routines/procedures—even for that one student who never annoys you and turns everything in on time and gets all As.  You are setting an example.  Stick to your guns.  You will earn more respect—from students, colleagues, and administrators alike—if you stand firm in your classroom rules.

• If you are going to remain a professional, you must continue learning.  Therefore, read anything you can get your hands on.  Read anything a colleague gives you.  Read EVERYTHING your principal gives you!

The program you are THISCLOSE to finishing helped you tremendously.  Spending countless hours in classrooms was well worth learning all you did—from lesson planning to collaboration to classroom management to the importance of literacy and diversity.  The various ways of facilitating discussion groups in an ELA classroom were especially meaningful and you should incorporate these into your classroom.  Often.  And remember, your paramount concern is students’ learning.  You must always be cognizant of students’ struggles (both academically and personally) and you must act as intercessor and advocate. 

As you reflect on the fifteen gazillion essays, assignments, and projects you have done over the last four years, to be honest, you would not change a thing.  You learned so much and you will graduate knowing you received a quality education.  You met some terrific people along the way and you were blessed to be taught by instructors who genuinely care about their students.  Consider yourself a “product of the system”—in a good way!  You are more than prepared to join the workforce and spend the next thirty or so years sharing your love of English with others.  

Last but certainly not least—NEVER GET RID OF THIS BOOK:

This book is your lifeline.  Even though you've read through it (twice), hang onto it.  Read it again.  And again.  And again.  And don't forget about all your other books.  Yeah, go ahead and hang onto them too.

You can do this.  You HAVE done this.  Your dedication has paid off and you will reap a lifetime of rewards.  Most importantly, though, you will provide your students with the same challenges and triumphs you have experienced these last four years.  And then, you will watch students smile at you because you helped them succeed.