Well, I have come to the end of my pre-internship and, somehow, I have survived. It has been the most exhausting, exhilarating, exciting, and enriching experience I have had during my time as an education student. There were days when I just wanted to pre-internship to be over, and now that it is, I’m going to miss it.
For much of my time in the school, I didn’t know if what I was doing was actually getting to any of my students. In fact, I spent many days wondering if my students liked anything I did at all. So, on the last day I had the students give me feedback about how they thought I did. The comments that struck me the most were the comments I got from my Grade 9 class. This is mostly because this was the group of students that I taught by myself, I also taught Creative Writing with my partner. My Grade 9 class were my kids, and I got attached to them. So, seeing what they had to say about me meant a lot.
It was very impactful for me to read their comments, and each one of them really struck me. The part that surprised me the most was that they actually liked me, for the most part. It may have just been that I didn’t assign much homework, but most of the students had a lot of positive feedback for me. It seemed that they appreciated my more laid back attitude, and that I was willing to joke around with them a little bit. One of my favourite comments from a students was that I was able to make Romeo and Juliet fun for them. This was something I had worried a lot about going in to the class. I had not read the play since I was in Grade 9, and having to teach the play was a little intimidating. But, knowing that at least one kid had fun while I took then through Shakespeare made the experience rewarding for me. It let me know that I can take students through Shakespearean works, or any work for that matter, and let them have fun with it. And, in the end, isn’t that what we want from all of our classes? To let the kids have fun with it?
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