Yesterday was my last day to student teach.

Which makes today my first full day done with student teaching. It’s quite a strange feeling; I’m sad to leave my students because I had a really great time but then again I am super excited because it means I am one step closer to graduating and becoming a real person. In fact, graduation is only three days away. That leaves a little time for me to reflect a bit on my student teaching experience.

For those of you who have never been a student teacher, you should be very grateful. Why? Not because it is fun or extremely rewarding but because it is very awkward. I think it is inherent to the name student teacher. It automatically puts you in limbo between being a student and a teacher. The name is very accurate because you are learning how to become a teacher, however, connotatively the word “student” has a lot of baggage attached to it. It can strip you of authority.

I found that for my elementary students, it became a word that was confusing. Who was I? What was I doing in their classroom? Where was I a student?The idea of college for most of them seemed too abstract and distant for them truly understand me. They eventually got over it and grew to accept me as a teacher but in the beginning it was strange for them and they were not sure how to feel about me.

For the secondary students, it became a word that meant I was one of them.  I looked like one of them, I was closer to their age, I wore some of the same style clothes, but I was also a student. It became an uphill battle to reassert myself.

Overall, the entire experience was very rewarding. It was definitely a necessary process that allowed me to grow and learn as both an educator and a person. I got to meet some very nice, new people - both teachers and students and I got to share my love and knowledge of art with them. The whole experience made me very excited about the prospect of becoming a full-fledge teacher. I honestly cannot wait.