After four-and-a-half years of night and all day Saturday classes I am finally here! Like a child who is standing at the end of the diving board for the first time trying to get the courage to jump off , I find myself at the end of my teacher education program poised to jump into the last leg of my journey; student teaching. It hasn't been easy. In the past five years I have divorced, moved, started over, gone from being a stay-at-home mom to working full time, lost my mom to cancer, and sent a daughter off to college. All while attending Whitworth in the evening to earn my BA in Elementary Education and my teaching certificate. There have been many times when I have doubted my decision to become a teacher. The pay isn't great and the job market doesn't look so good either. Yet, something urges me on at every turn. The deep desire in my heart to make a difference in the life of a child. The yearning I have to make every child believe that they are "seen", that they are full of potential and they can do and be whatever they dream. Research and personal experience confirm that good teachers can make a huge impact in the life of a child.
Quite frankly, I love the job that I have right now working as a public affairs associate and they are holding my position for me if I want to return after my student teaching. I have a hunch that I will love teaching, that I will know without a shadow of a doubt that I have found my passion and will not want to turn back. But...in all honesty, I kind of feel like I might jump off that diving board and painfully realize that someone forgot to fill the pool. I can't help asking myself, what if I have gone through all of this schooling and I learn during my student teaching that I don't want to teach?!! I will soon find out. This is Saturday night. I start my student teaching Monday, November 1st in a first grade classroom. I'm excited and nervous but ready to JUMP!
