Find the joy

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 11^th 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!.