The Students are My Goal -- Eric

Going into student teaching, I'm excited about having a consistent schedule and face-time with students. As we move closer to that point, I have the growing sensation that the students embody my main goal as a professional. They are the reason. I grow tired of the litany of small assignments and reflections that I have to do as a student myself. My students are waiting, and I want to be there.

Of course, I am worried that this student teaching will quickly consume my life. But on the other hand, I have tasted this life, and I will willingly offer myself.

Here's another concern: I want to give my students work that challenges them and pushes them to a new level of achievement, YET in trying to navigate that road I don't want to either give them an impossible task or insult them with baby work. I guess no teacher wants their class to be the dreaded point in some poor student's day.

And another concern: Will I be so enveloped in trying to stay on my feet during this formative experience that I will miss the chance to connect with students on an individual (dare I say personal) level? Obviously I hope not. Yet I want to give my twelfth graders a final semester that makes them feel recognized and challenged.

Best wishes to all of us. May isosceles triangles and war-torn Europe and atomic numbers and sonnet rhyme schemes and estudiantes desafiante y los bombaderos be topics with which students wrestle and never forget.