Letter to Me (OR #6)

Dear Meagan, 

I know that you felt like this year was going to be hard, and it was, but let’s focus on the good things. What good came from the hard things that seemed like such huge obstacles to you from the beginning of the year?

1.     Joining a new Core group of interns. When you decided to take a gap year to add another major to your education, you were nervous about extending your overall plan of study. You were also very nervous about joining another group of interns. These nerves were justified, but they quickly changed to feelings of pride and excitement. Your fellow Core interns have made this last year everything it could be! Thank you, fellow Core interns! 

2.     Preparing to be with your students every day. This may seem like a big change, but you are up for the task! You will become the teacher and person you are meant to be through this valuable time spent with your students. Do not take this time for granted. Do not take these relationships for granted.  

3.     Feedback. Sometimes it hurts to receive feedback about your teaching when you put so much thought and effort into planning your lessons. Soak it all in! This feedback is not meant to hurt you. It is meant to help you and make you better each time you teach! Don’t take the feedback for granted – you won’t have it like this once you graduate. 

4.     Grace. Grace is something you share with your students and it’s something you live by. Give grace to your students and to yourself. You are not perfect, but you are still worth it even when you mess up. If you are telling this to your students, tell it to yourself. Preach this to yourself! Grace is central to your teaching career.

5.     Your MT. Oh my gosh, getting to work with and know your MT will be the best thing to happen to you in this program! I know that you were nervous about having an MT for a whole year, but when you get to the end of your program, you will wish for more time with her. Soak up every minute of learning and growing. 

Meagan, do you want to know the truth? This is by no means an exhaustive list. These five things are pretty major, but they do not cover nearly enough of your experience. You will spend plenty of time processing through this experience in your life. There were so many parts that challenged you, but so many more parts that lifted you up and encouraged you. 

And even in the hard parts, you grew. 

Isn’t that beautiful? 

You have grown so much this past year, and wasn’t that always the goal? 

Congratulations, Meagan! You did it!