What Could Possibly Inspire Me to Go Back to School as a Student?
Why am I here? Why am I back to being a student? This wasn’t the plan. It took me 5 years after I graduated with my B.A. of Music to attend school again and here I am. Applying to programs was the hardest decision I had to make. My undergrad was intense: we had to audition and interview to get into the program, and then continue interviewing and performing in front of a “jury” of our professors in order to stay in the program. On top of those expectations, we needed to obtain a certain G.P.A to continue receiving our scholarship funds (which was the only reason I was able to attend this program in the first place.) On top of that, I was going for my B.ED in Music, so I have taken almost all my education courses previously to become a teacher, so I really felt like I was robbed of those courses by having to take them again in Canada. Those five years were the best and the worst years of my life, full of enriching experiences and building life-long skills however; the trade was my mental, physical, spiritual and emotional well-being. Who and what could possibly inspire me enough to go back as a student to the classroom?
My first full contract was with a Gr. 6/7 class in one of our rural schools. I didn’t know I had this contract until 2 days prior to school starting, so here I was; a rookie, walking into a bare classroom with 27, hormone- stuffed humans looking at me with wondering eyes. We started with absolutely nothing, but we decided we wanted to be able to attend Gavin Lake for our year end trip- but how would we pay for it? Coming from a school with not much funding, we had to come through with our own- so what did I propose? That we become the very first “Show Choir” in the Cariboo.
“What is a Show Choir Miss. T?” I showed our class short clips of my previous performances, short clips from “GLEE” and so on and every single jaw was dropped. Of course, not everyone was going to be on board at first! I am asking these 11/12/13 year old students to be vulnerable enough with each other to sing and dance and eventually perform a concert! But… we practiced. We incorporated our Arts, Career and Professional portions of our curriculum while having fun!
Long story short? I watched my students gain confidence in themselves, laugh, learn and take care of each other. I watched them grow to work together and become accountable of their actions for the better of the group. I was able to see them let their walls fall down, discover they had talents they never knew they had and focus towards common goals. Finally, I got to give them pep talks behind stage, calm their nerves and then watch them shine when they took the spotlight. I was able to see them smile when the entire audience erupted in a standing ovation and it was in that moment: I knew exactly what I was suppose to be doing: I. Am. A. Teacher. Thank you to that group of students that inspired me every day. Thank you for allowing me to care for you and want to become a better teacher for you. Thank you for challenging me because I was able to grow and learn from those moments. Thank you for being the class and the individuals you are: because of you, I am back in school and on the journey to becoming a certified teacher.
Teaching Metaphor: Teaching is like Golf: You spend half the time wondering if you’re doing it right, swearing under your breath when you make multiple mistakes, (because you have off days and slumps too!) but even if you have the worst round: you still have fun! At some point though, you make that drive that finally goes straight, you make that putt, and the game finally starts coming together. But just when you think you have it? It can fall apart, but because you love the game- you keep going back to the course to repeat it all over again.
- A Teaching Metaphor by Me
Do I really have to explain how that applies to you as a teacher or your students in their learning? *wink* *wink* Nah, I didn’t think so. Until next time- Teacher Rae, out!
