Mile High

I am writing my final post as a student teacher on my flight back from Denver and I finally think I am ready to turn the page to the next chapter in my life. To say the past 5 years have been amazing is an understatement. I learned more about myself than I could have thought possible when I was a wide-eyed freshmen moving into East Holden a few short years ago. I have met so many wonderful people at Michigan State and continue to be inspired by my friends, family and colleagues. I had so many wonderful people surrounding me that gave me the support to be successful at MSU and I cannot thank them enough. Thank you everyone that made it possible to help me find my next stage in life.

Enough with the mushy stuff and onto my last words of advice/goals/plans/future…

Why am I flying back from Denver some of you may ask? Well, I was fortunate enough to find a school in Denver, Colorado to give me an opportunity to teach a 4^th grade class. I flew out to Denver to meet the staff, students and to explore some living options this week. I have been so impressed with everyone I have met in Denver, especially at my school. The kindness from each and everyone at the school is contagious and I cannot wait to get started. It is encouraging that the teachers are as excited and enthusiastic about teaching as I am and I truly feel like this is the place where I belong (only downside they don’t know much about hockey, yet!).

How did I find a job? Future interns…I was myself during the job search, I didn’t worry about the small stuff and I had a plan. My advice is to truly be you during the interviewing process and remain true to yourself. You want the right fit for you and what better way to find the right fit than to be yourself. Some of the things I did to prepare for interviews were…

· Visited job fairs prior to the MSU fair

· Prepared my portfolio in December during winter break

· Planned which schools I wanted to go to during career fairs (selected my top 5 and had 10 other possible schools to look at if I had time.)

· Researched schools before fairs; mission statement, philosophies, etc. I wanted to make sure the school fit for me, not that they had jobs available

· Made sheets with the schools I was to visit with sections for notes, information, contacts, etc…

· Stuck to my plan and hit the schools I wanted to go to first

· WAS MYSELF!

The thing I learned most about the intern year is to be prepared and it is never too early to start working on things…

After this year-long experience I have learned a lot about what it takes to become a great teacher and I have a ways to go. There are so many ups and downs in teaching; it is a matter of how well you can react and rebound from those that can really make a difference. I realize that I will undoubtedly make mistakes, but that is a part of learning and I will be continually learning from my peers, bosses, colleagues and most importantly from my students for the rest of my life.

My plan from here on out is to continue to write about my experiences as a first year teacher, second year teacher and so on. I want to reflect on my experiences in a way in which more people can benefit from it other than me.

I wish I could part from this last post with some wise words or inspirational message, but I’d rather leave that until my last days of teaching, when I have truly had the experiences to learn from and inspire the future leaders of tomorrow.

One thing I would like to end with though is this quote I read a few days ago…

“You don’t stop doing the things you love because you grow old, you grow old because you stop doing the things you love.”