As I reach the midway point in student teaching, I am reflecting on the ups and downs it has taken me through. Some days I feel accomplished, proud and inspired. Other days I feel exhausted, worried and I doubt my abilities. I’m realizing that ups and downs will be a theme in my teaching career. Some lessons are better than others, some days students participate more and sometimes less, some days will be overwhelming and some just flat out hard. Sometimes the pressure is enough to make me want to throw my hands in the air and give up, but only through hard work and persistence in the face of these challenges will I reap the rewards. If there is one thing I have learned in my art education career it’s that I will always be learning and that there will always be new challenges. Experiencing this first hand has made me realize I need to practice patience with myself because perfection and only good days or even mostly good days is an unrealistic expectation to put on myself. I have to roll with the punches, be flexible and give myself room to make mistakes and learn from them.
Recently I taught a challenging pottery assignment that many students struggled with or badly procrastinated despite my efforts to create checkpoints along the way in an attempt to scaffold the steps in the project. This left me feeling like my lesson was unsuccessful and it also made me feel helpless in assisting my struggling students since they are learning remotely. What I learned through this experience is that the bad days and the challenges that come with them are necessary in order to be successful and see the better days. I have to adapt my lessons after I find the flaws I didn’t foresee, I have to offer continued support to my students falling behind, and I have to find new ways to help my students be successful. By sticking through what feels like the bad days, I can create better days. Where my lesson is successful, my students feel accomplished and we all leave feeling happy and balanced. You can’t have a rainbow without rain, good days always come after the bad, especially if you work hard for them.
Recently I taught a challenging pottery assignment that many students struggled with or badly procrastinated despite my efforts to create checkpoints along the way in an attempt to scaffold the steps in the project. This left me feeling like my lesson was unsuccessful and it also made me feel helpless in assisting my struggling students since they are learning remotely. What I learned through this experience is that the bad days and the challenges that come with them are necessary in order to be successful and see the better days. I have to adapt my lessons after I find the flaws I didn’t foresee, I have to offer continued support to my students falling behind, and I have to find new ways to help my students be successful. By sticking through what feels like the bad days, I can create better days. Where my lesson is successful, my students feel accomplished and we all leave feeling happy and balanced. You can’t have a rainbow without rain, good days always come after the bad, especially if you work hard for them.