Dear Gaby,
I know you’re nervous, is this really what you
want to do for the rest of your life? I know right now you want to teach high
school. You don’t want to be near anyone below 9th grade. When your
former middle school math teacher offers you a job as a para in her middle
school math class you should give those little middle school monsters a chance.
I know you don’t like math, and you’re not very good at it but you will learn
more than math along the way. You will begin your journey with those middle
school students, they’ll make you want to not teach anymore and remind you why
it is you want to teach all in one day, every day… You’ll find that those
middle school students are not so bad after all, in fact you may change your
mind about teaching middle school along the way. You’ll find them to be kind,
grateful, and full of life, which is just what you need in life. When you
decide that you no longer want to teach high school students because you can’t
deal with all of the attitude, make sure that you still get licensed for 6-12,
you will thank me. You will complain when you are placed in a high school for
your student teaching, even though you are excited that it’s the school that you
graduated from. In the end it will be an amazing experience that will help you
grow as a teacher. You’ll realize that it doesn’t matter if you’re in a middle
school classroom or if you’re in a high school classroom, what matters is that
you’re in a classroom. You will love teaching, challenging your students and
exposing them to new knowledge every day. Keep in touch with your former teachers;
they will be immensely helpful along the way. They will help guide you through
the education program, and help you grow as a teacher. Don’t procrastinate on any of your classes,
make sure that you go to every class and take notes. Those 8am classes will be
hard and you will want to leave when you can’t find a parking spot, but just
keep driving and looking for an empty spot. Don’t go home just because you
couldn’t find a parking spot close enough to the building that your class is
in. It also wouldn’t hurt to study for exams, even when you don’t think that
you need to study…study! When the KPTP gets thrown at you start working on it
right away. Don’t wait, whatever you do, do not wait until the last minute.
That will stress you out. Be sure to start task one before January and go from
there. Whenever you feel like giving up, or whenever you feel like maybe
teaching isn’t what you want to do read this letter. Remember the students that
you have worked with, they look up to you, they appreciate you and they need
you!
Sincerely,
