Are you thankful for your job? I am very thankful for the opportunity to teach young people everyday for the past 20 years. Has it been easy? Oh, heavens no! but most days (you know everyone has a bad day occasionally) it is the best job anyone can do in the world. I say this also knowing that my retirement is approaching within the next 6 months.
I am thankful for multiple opportunities this job has afforded me during the past 20 years. One of the things that has made me the most thankful is mentoring student teachers. I really enjoy the process of meeting them before their assignment, working on plans, activities, and assessments, and of course the growth at the end of their assignment. I have a method to my mentorship that has served not only myself but I believe all the student teachers in the past who have gone on to have great careers in education. I am always a resource for them as they “fly” away from the next. I know my method works because not one student teacher that I have mentored has left the profession.
I am very thankful for the trust the student teachers develop in me. I hope they feel comfortable, honest during our time together. I want to be humble, honest, and always available to help, coach, or just lend a shoulder. I am thankful for the relationships that develop from this opportunity. I have made some lifelong friendships and colleagues.
I am thankful for the stamina to continue in education and have a servant heart that allows me the ability to impart wisdom, humor, and joy into my future colleagues. I never want my student teachers to feel alone, unwanted, or even not mentored. I am thankful that mentorship and teaching are synonymous. I teach them to have a willingness to learn, try, and fail. If you can not learn to fail, then you can not learn to succeed. I think this is the hardest concept for student teachers to comprehend because they are taught to succeed and to do their best.
As my retirement from teaching looms on the near horizon, if I can give one last piece of advice to student teachers or pre-service teachers is the following: be prepared, model your expectations, and roll with the punches because you will endure many in your career, develop a work/life balance and above all have fun! Just remember if you are bored, then your students are probably bored as well.
I am most thankful to the many students, parents, and colleagues that have made me into the teacher I am today. I am thankful for the next chapter and title in my life- GRANDMA! Coming in January of 2022. Very Thankful.
Terri Gibson
Daleville High School
Twenty Year Teaching Veteran
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