I wanted to congratulate you again for choosing such an admirable and rewarding career. Teaching is a fast paced and challenging profession and schools need dedicated and committed professionals now, more than ever. I have worked in schools for a number of years, and I have met many wonderful and inspiring teachers. I am so impressed by the standard and the commitment of the new teachers that I meet. I want to tell you a story – one about the greatest prac teacher I have ever met.
This prac teacher was completing her first prac and was quite nervous about implementing her first lesson in my class. She was shaking, hesitant but professional. She had handed me her program, a well planned, well structured, and well developed lesson on fractions. Her preparation was outstanding. As she walked to the front of the classroom to deliver her masterpiece, a student projectile vomited all over her shoes and proceeded to spray his classmates in a thick covering. I watched this poor prac student arrived at a cross road – she had the option of either taking the distraction in her stride and attending to the situation at hand, or, as I would have probably done on my first prac, cried and given up. This brilliant prac teacher, calmly and professionally, navigated through the situation. She cleaned up the child and ushered him off to the sick bay. She sent the children that had been vomited on to the toilets to get changed and somehow, miraculously, maintained the focus of the rest of the class. The good news is, the prac student delivered her lesson, and continued to grow and develop her teaching skills.
We can all take away lessons from this new teacher’s experience. She came fully prepared for the class, but demonstrated the ability to adapt to the situation as was needed. She led the class with confidence and ultimately completed the lesson she set out to deliver.
As educators we never really know what the next day will hold, but we can always face the joys and the challenges with confidence that what we are doing truly matters. Even on the tough days I try to keep in mind the privilege it is to teach and remind myself to always, always keep smiling and give my students my best.