Dear Keely,
You
have spent a fair amount of time questioning your decision to go back to school
in your 30s – rightfully so as school now means juggling your roles as wife,
mom, sister, daughter, employee and student.
Being pulled in so many different directions is hard and depending on
the time of year, your course load, and the inevitable things that happen in
life you are forced to give short shrift to some of those roles (apologies to
my kids, my spouse, my family, my work, and myself). I’m here to tell you it is worth it.
I’m not here to tell you it gets
easier, because honestly, it doesn’t.
Getting through this last year of school will be one of the most
challenging things you’ll do (short of raising two children – parenting is
crazy hard).
What you
do need to hear are three simple words:
Find the
joy.
These three words will get you through so much in the last
semester of the education program. So much that you’ll wish you had adopted them
earlier during Core 3 or even Cores 1 and 2.
Two people – your English methods instructor and your mom – both said
this same thing to you in the span of a couple days early in Core 4 and you will
hold onto them like a life raft – these words will come to mean a lot and will
keep you focused. In fact, you’ll get them
engraved on a bracelet as something you can literally use as a touchstone during
your final semester (and you won’t be able to count the number of times that bracelet
has come in handy).
So where and when should you find the joy?
Find the joy in
being in the classroom every day and eventually all day for it is where you are
truly meant to be. It won’t always be
easy, but it feels right even on the toughest of days.
Find the joy in
the work you do for your methods classes – for the chance to expand your
knowledge base and to garner excellent ideas from your peers and instructors.
Find the joy in
the job hunt – it will be more stressful and challenging than you anticipate,
but the outcome will surpass your expectations.
You will be thrilled and slightly terrified that come August you will
indeed have your own classroom and it will be filled with students and it will
be awesome.
Find the joy in
the children you get to meet and know through your work as a student teacher –
even at their most frustrating they have much to teach you and you will learn
something from your students EVERY DAY.
Find the joy in
being a dual subject teacher – in the running from English to science, in the
scope of planning for two wildly different subjects, in the segues you find
between both subjects while planning lessons, in juggling all the evaluations
and field supervisors who you will adore for their guidance and feedback, in
taking the exams that show that you do know enough to teach both (relief!) and
in the sheer joy of being so happy in both English and science that choosing
one over the other seems impossible.
Find the joy in
having two mentor teachers to guide your learning. You will learn SO much from each of them. You
are so fortunate to have a near perfect student teaching experience and your
mentor teachers will be a huge part of that.
Through their efforts you will leave this year a much stronger well
rounded teacher than when you started in August.
Find the joy in
your peers. You are so lucky to have two
groups to call “home” and these people will inspire you in a myriad of
ways. You will rally around one another
during the tense moment of waiting for exams scores, presenting at conferences, for interview outcomes,
and for KPTP scores and most importantly you will find support and
understanding in both groups that will carry you through the hardest moments to
come.
Find the joy in
the light at the end of the tunnel coming closer and closer as your to-do list
gets shorter and shorter. You will get to that magical point when all that is
left is a small handful of loose ends and you will be exhausted, excited and
full of anticipation for the next school year.
Find the joy in the journey and all its highs and lows and in-betweens.
It has been a long one – many years if you go all the way back to high
school graduation – and it will come rushing to an end so incredibly soon
(trust me on this one) and part of you will not be ready to let go and move on.
There have been and will be tears, smiles,
sleepless nights, lots of laughter, days fraught with worry and stress, unexpected
joy, frustration and a lot of questioning yourself – but you make it through
and you will do yourself proud (so incredibly proud for so many reasons).
Find the joy in
being almost done with your degree program and in turning another page in your
life story. To quote the 11th Doctor, “we’re all stories in the end
just make it a good one.”
Find the joy in successfully finishing this chapter in your story - the next one is sure to be the best yet!.
