Daring to Be » Internship

My internship that is. Yesterday was the last day of school before Christmas holidays. I was spoiled by my class with lots of hugs. I also got a ton of Christmas gifts, the most notable being the book my cooperating teacher put together for me. On the top of each page is typed “You are a great teacher because _________.” She filled in the blank with what each student said and then they drew me a picture. Very cute. I would have cried if I hadn’t already planned on coming back to visit in 2008.

My first order of business now that internship is over was to clean my room. Not that I haven’t cleaned it in the past four months. Just that was only surface cleaning. So it was time for a good, thorough clean! Reorganized my closet, dusted everything, tossed away an incredible amount of junk. I head home to Carrot River for four days tomorrow, which is when I will relax, read books, and watch movies. When I get back, time to get organized; I have a massive tower of teaching resources I need to sort.

There’s a brief update of what has been going on in my little corner of the world.

9 school days left of my internship.

My co-op gave me my final evaluation to proof read and I actually felt flattered after reading it, so that’s a good sign and definitely not worth me working myself in a tizzy of worry over it. I guess I just am harder on myself than necessary.

I finished full time teaching on Friday. Now for the next few days I just teach afternoons and then eventually not at all. I keep walking around repeating how crazy I think it is that my internship is over. I’ve passed. All that’s left between me and my Education degree is 4 months of classes, not a big concern to me at all since I’ve already passed 4 years of classes, another 4 months won’t kill me.

Now, what to do after my degree is what troubles me…

Yet another cute kindergarten story…

Yesterday afternoon my coop and I had a conference downtown so we had a sub in. Today our EA told me that while we were away B., a little girl in my class who is positively adorable (well I guess all my students are… ), was busy coloring but all of sudden quit coloring, looked up and said “I love Miss. G!”

Too funny because I wasn’t even there to do anything to warrant her announcing that she loves me!

Ack I love this job.

… for I have seen yesterday and I love today. (William Allen White)

Not only has internship taught me a lot in regards to my identity as a teacher, but it also has really helped me think about what I want for the rest of my life and begin to weigh my options. To be honest, I have never looked far beyond getting my degree. That was always my plan, to get my degree and take it from there. Well, now I’m only five months away from attaining my goal. Meaning, it’s time to think about the rest of my life!

I definitely don’t have the answers. But I do know I have grown up quite a bit these last few months. For the longest time I wanted to write about my options on here, and get people’s opinions. I don’t feel that way anymore. Nobody can know what is important to me quite like I do.

I guess what I’m trying to get across here is that I don’t have the rest of my life figured out. But for once I feel like that’s okay. Whatever choices I make, I’m making them on my own and I’ll be fine.

I am finally trusting myself completely.

It’s wonderful.

Internship will be over in exactly one month from today. Which is crazy to say the least.

I would write more about how it has been going, but I’m sick. Though I felt fine all day, I came home and was physically ill. Not fun. The little germ factories known as children have struck again! They’re lucky they’re so cute. I spent all evening on the couch, in and out of sleep, and am feeling okay. I think I caught a very weak strain of the flu bug, fingers crossed at least. Tomorrow is a long day, Activity Conferences in the early evening followed by going to the Stars concert that night. Friday brings Activity Conferences in the morning and then supper and Swan Lake that night. So yes, I hope I feel better tomorrow because I would be really unhappy if I had to miss one or both of the events I’ve been looking forward to since September!

Time to crawl back onto the couch. This short entry had me sitting up too long.

I am in an incredibly grouchy mood right now, with no real concrete reason to be.

Today was my last internship inservice. My co-op and I went through my mid-term evaluation and I just found it to be really draining. Nine pages of statements that we discussed whether or not I had met, and if not, my plan for improvement. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the importance of doing it and luckily enough, I wasn’t surprised with anything we talked about but all the same it was exhausting going through my internship thus far with such a fine toothed comb. We finished it at 2 PM, I came home and crashed until 4 PM! Which in turn made me feel guilty, because it was a beautiful day today and Winston came and sat on my chest, staring me down like “Aren’t you taking me for a walk?” He finally gave up, let out a huge sigh, and had a nap with me.

I also chaired the ESS meeting tonight, which is always fun. (Please note the sarcasm.) I just feel like I am the worst chairperson ever sometimes!

So now I plan on doing nothing but watching The Hills, even though I have assignments to mark and things to plan. But I don’t care, not at this moment, I just need to relax a bit.

Not much new except that internship is still coming along great. I’m over half done already!

Funny story to share that shows what a newbie teacher I am. Yesterday I played Jeopardy with the grade 6 class I teach as a review for Monday’s exam. What did I bring for treats?

• Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Gum

Yes. Though the school I am at is not a peanut free zone, there are a few students who do have peanut allergies and one happens to be in this class. As for gum, well, were you ever allowed gum in elementary school?

Anyway it was funny, I had a good laugh at myself. I ended up still giving them gum since it was the last class of the day. And that’s my newbie teacher story… not thinking and bringing peanuts and gum as a treat! (Which might only be funny to exactly two people: myself and Megan!)

I’m simply too busy to blog and I refuse to apologize for that because I’m enjoying every last second of it.

My life revolves around planning lessons and researching different options of what I can do and where I can go after graduating.

I really don’t have time for much else.

Don’t worry though. I am taking some time for myself (example: I am rereading “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho), I just don’t spend that time blogging. I do have some issues that I will blog about eventually, so stay tuned.

Yes, I’m sitting at home on a Saturday night. It looks like I’ll be heading to Carrot River for Thanksgiving next weekend, and considering I start half time teaching the following week I figured it was in my best interest to have a low key weekend of planning.

I have a few little things to update about.

• The two other interns and I introduced eachother and led the entire school (300+ students and staff) in a couple of songs at a school assembly, talk about scary but it went well.
• Staff wellness day was Thursday, which meant a free book from McNally Robinson. I chose Peter Pan and Wendy, because though I love every film adaptation of Peter Pan I’ve ever seen, I’ve never actually read the book.
• The vice principal and middle years teachers invited us interns to the grade 8 camping trip next week. It’ll definitely be an interesting experience and you can bet I’ll be bundling up in sweat pants and sweaters, especially if the weather is anything like it is tonight (only 5 degrees Celsius, 41 degrees for you Fahrenheiters.)

As much as I love teaching, I really am starting to realize I need to do a better job of making time for myself. I feel like I don’t talk about anything but internship. Which, granted, I come home everyday with a fresh batch of entertaining stories but all the same I have to make more effort to remember I am not just Miss. Gentner the interning teacher but also Breanne, the 24 year old trying to figure life and love out.

This is my third week of being sick. Not cool. Started with a sore throat. That went away and was replaced last week by congestion. Now, week three, the congestion has mostly gone away but now I have this awful tickle in my throat that has me constantly coughing. This tickle stops me when I’m talking and the cough keeps me up at night. Considering I hardly ever get sick (knock on wood), I’m not the most pleased person on the face of the planet.

Oh well, I guess I should just be glad I don’t feel tired and achy.

In other news, I had a great time with Rosey this past weekend! I wish it was this weekend she was coming, because so far all I have to look forward to is a whole lot of planning. Which, don’t get me wrong I actually quite enjoy planning lessons, but after interning 5 days a week 8 AM-4 PM… I’m just sort of ready to take a break by the weekend.

My college supervisor came by to watch me teach yesterday. I was so nervous. I did a color mixing lesson and was sort of worried it would crash and burn on me. Luckily, however, it went great! Seriously! I also received really positive feedback from my supervisor, like way better than I could ever have imagined. So, despite being just a little bit sick for almost three full weeks, life is grand.