Practicum Stories

Story One

One eye opener for me was how tiring teaching was, and I didn’t even get to teach a full load yet! I finally understood what all my high school teachers were telling me when I was a student, “Don’t become a teacher, it’s time and energy consuming…” Despite not listening to my teachers’ advice, I enjoyed my practicum and I felt like I was in my element. It didn’t feel awkward, except for getting to know the new environment. It was something I couldn’t wait to do, so these past two weeks were very self confirming in what I always wanted to do – teach.

Although it was tiring at times, my days seemed to always end with an uncontrollable smirk on my face as I was walking away from the school. I realized that my day was well spent and how fulfilled I was with what I was doing throughout the day. The exciting part about teaching is not what you are teaching but who you are teaching, and I found out that students are the pulse of the world. They are the ones bringing new ideas and energy into the world, so spending my time with them and guiding them in whatever way I could during my day was a fruitful experience. And of course there was a lot to reflect on and think, how would I have done that differently? Overall, I can’t imagine myself doing something else other than teaching for now.

Story Two

Another realization of teaching during my practicum was that being a teacher involved being involved with pretty much all of society in some way. I was very conscious of my actions even outside of school as I was walking down the streets in the neighborhood. Not only was I more conscious about my image as I was walking down the streets, but I felt that as a teacher you are dealing with pretty much all the baggage students bring to the classroom, and unfortunately not all of it is good baggage. The whole community seems to somehow manifest its character in the school setting. It’s a fascinating environment to be in, at times overwhelming, but nonetheless exciting. The school seems to be a different place every day; you never know what might just arise in your classrooms that you will have to address. That uncertainty adds excitement and calls for caution at times, this realization was unexpected to me, but I was glad to come across this realization now rather than later.