On a more positive note...

It is days like today that I feel reassured I'm in the right major.  I cannot wait to teach all the time.  Mentoring is going well, although, there are times I wish it would be going better. Teaching this semester has been interesting. I've learned a lot, as I foresee will continue. During summer training for the semester, I left feeling very prepared.  My student one-on-one meetings went well, for the most part at the beginning of the semester.  Once we got to Unit 2 though, I felt things going downhill. Maybe part of it had to do with the material. Maybe part was due to a change in groups. I still felt the students start pulling away, less-engaged, attendance has been down.

I spoke to a few students again about why their grades were dropping so drastically. Why weren't they coming to class? I got a few responses back. I'm so glad I approached the conversations the way I did.  There is always more than one side to a story.  Instead of assuming they didn't care about the class.  Instead of assuming they were lazy, I searched for the root of the issue. If they weren't motivated, what was causing the loss in motivation?  After these talks I had with my students, I feel so much more at ease.  Maybe they're grades won't go up as I wish, but I felt like I was making a difference.  Sometimes, it's nice just to know someone cares. I felt like they knew I cared. Yes, I want to teach because I live for those moments when those little brain connections finally form...when that light bulb finally goes off and 7x8 makes sense.  I live for seeing a child improve on grammatical sentence structure. I cannot wait to make that academic difference in their lives (not just because the state tells me I have to follow standards).  That isn't the only reason I look forward to teaching though.  Sometimes the longer-lasting difference is on a more personal level.  Sometimes a student needs to know you care instead. I hope to be THAT teacher one day. That no matter how challenging I am, no matter how many academic/learning barriers my students break through, they will know I didn't just care about my paycheck, but about who they become as a person.

P.S. I forgot to say, I passed Praxis a couple weeks ago. Math and Reading scores came back right away, but I had to wait on my writing score. Passed all three the first time around. Hallelujah!