Everything...wow

I just finished my first semester of grad school.

This has been...the best schooling experience of my entire life.

So what I've been doing the past 6 weeks is working in an Ann Arbor summer school with children from all over the district. These kids were recommended to attend due to their performance in literacy and math. It was very very challenging, but completely amazing.
I worked with third graders teaching concepts of math and literacy to them and planned a lesson every day for when I was there. After summer school we had class at the school where we would discuss context/methods/reflections of the practice.

I feel so good about the teaching practices they are instilling in us and how our own professors are modeling to us, how they want us to teach children, they are treating us as sense-makers so we know to implement that in our own teaching.

Everything we are doing just fits together in the most amazing way and truly makes you think about everything you are doing in a lesson and making it intentional and focused.

Growing up I thought I was inept at math because I never did well in it, or understood it. Now I realize that the teachers were showing us how to do math, but not the why behind the how. They weren't allowing the students to discuss strategies and to question...I can't wait to be a teacher and really set up these children for success and let them question and discuss and feel confident in doing so. That is how you learn.

For some reason I'm feeling really emotional about the end of this semester. Many told me that a large percentage of people who go into teaching, leave very quickly. But maybe they were not taught the why behind the how of teaching. This summer we worked with the children who have the hardest time in school, and I still feel like I can't wait to get back into the classroom and encourage these kids to be interested in learning.

I think I truly made the best choice by going back to school, and I was truly lucky to be picked to be in this program, it is amazing and I am so interested in learning. I am so excited to teach.