On Student Teaching

I just finished reading over a hundred ninth grade introductory essays and at the end I couldn't help but think, what was the point? Then I was reading over old blog posts and found this: "... at the end of all those 'ands' and 'buts' there's a piece of hidden treasure where the child tells us something that we never knew about him up to now. And good teachers use that piece of hidden treasure as a key to unlock motivation and to bring the child back into the classroom work..." -Jonathan Kozol.

Yeah, I still want to be a teacher. Even though it took me over five hours to read all of these student's papers, and by the end my eyes were ready to fall out of my head it was worth it. I want these students to become whatever it is they want to become, because I think they really can become whatever they want to become. And really that's all I've thought about so far. That's mostly because I have only observed so far in this class. Tuesday's the day I actually get up in front of them. For an hour. Four different times. Please bless that they don't tear me apart.