Chapter 11: Thinking About The Next Stage

What an interesting week I had. Disclaimer: this blog post is shorter than most because I was not in the classroom at ALL last week. Crazy, I know.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I was at the PA FFA State Legislative Leadership Conference in Harrisburg (a blog will follow). Following our return home, we were greeted by a snow storm that evening and the next day which resulted in two snow days, both Wednesday and Thursday. Instead of returning to school on Friday, I had a great professional development session with my Penn State cohort and professors. What a week it was. Thus, this blog post is going to be on how I am feeling after completing 11 weeks of student-teaching and how I am going to maximize the rest of my time.

Truth Time: How Am I Doing?

To be honest, I have really enjoyed my time here at Tri-Valley with my cooperating-teaching, students, and community. I truly believe that this was the perfect fit for me and I was able to be successful as a result. Now don't get me wrong, there are still days that I am nervous to teach, days I think I failed as a teacher, and days that I feel frustrated, but the good days are far more numerous and memorable. Truth time (again), I do feel like I am starting to get ready, psychologically and emotionally, to enter the next stage of my life after graduation. I am in the midst of applying for numerous positions and getting ready to graduate. I am so excited for when the time comes where I am offered a position to be an "official" agricultural educator. In my mind, I think it is a good thing that as you progress through student teaching you feel more confident and capable that you are ready to have your own job and classroom at a high school that offers school-based agriculture education.

But........ I need to finish strong.

I have been over my mountain of teaching every class for two weeks now, so my class load and prep time have decreased. However, I do feel the stress of applying for open teaching positions so that I have options once I have graduated. On top of this, I am completing the last of my Penn State assignments, which is no walk in the park. Thus, I have to remind myself that even though I am so close to being done, that the light at the end of tunnel is about to touch my face, I cannot slack off and neglect the education of my students. That is and always will be my first priority, education. Thus, I am continuing to try new types of lessons, various teaching methods, and challenging myself until the very end.

I see the light, I'm running towards it, but I have to make sure I keep setting myself up for success.