Expecting the Unexpected

These past few weeks of mentorship have been some of the hardest. Having challenges in the mentorship class is what I’ve come to expect, yet some of the greatest challenges have decided to all come at the same time. Some challenges I faced were the fact that my students sometimes refused to listen to what I was teaching them. In turn, this made me a bit frustrated. As I’ve stated before in some of my previous blogs, my students and I get into talks about my personal life and also their personal lives. What I don’t enjoy is when sensitive topics come up. Sometimes my students say things to me that aren’t the nicest. Knowing myself as a fairly emotional person, I oftentimes involuntarily let their words affect me. It surprised me that I was being so affected nearing the end of the semester. I felt like I was getting used to a few of their complaints and comments, but I suppose that it was all building up. However, I do appreciate my students and I enjoy teaching them, despite the fact that it can feel overwhelming at times.

The way I handled these problems was more on my own terms. I focused on being more open minded and understanding. I tried to figure out why they were complaining or making a few rude comments. Were they frustrated? If so, more at me or the work they were doing? Are there other problems that I’m simply unaware of? Even then, I know I’m just a mentorship student. It’s normal to have an off day, I should know as a teenager myself. I learned to not sweat the small stuff, especially when it comes to small comments. I try not to think about it too much. The conclusion I’ve drawn from this experience is that dealing with students comes easier after years of experience as a teacher. Not only as a teacher, but as an adult too.

My students and I have always mostly had the same relationship throughout the semester. I’m here to help them and teach them their content. Not only that, but I try to expand to help more students around the room, not just the usual three people I help. I helped new math kid the other day with a topic I hadn’t done in awhile, and it was fun solving the problem with him because it took a share of both of our notes to figure out what he was missing. It felt good to complete the problem with one of my students I don’t usually assist.

My mentorship teachers are people I can trust and rely on. Not only in class, but out of my usual period three. I spend lunch there sometimes because I really feel comfortable in that class with them. Even so, I have pretty cool conversations with them. In class, I know they always have my back. For instance, if one student is making a particularly harsh comment, Mrs. Fernando will step in. Mr. Morris always notices how I’m feeling, too. He understands that everyone has their off days, like I’ve mentioned, I’m a teenager too. He lets me have my time to recuperate and gather my bearings so that I’m in a better state to do my job with the students. I genuinely do appreciate them and I feel that the achievement centre has become almost like a second home for me.

As it’s getting closer to Christmas and the end of the semester, I’m excited to see everyone else’s blogs and how their experiences differ from mine. That, or that they’re incredibly similar. Either way, CPT season is coming closer and closer with each passing week. I’ve decided to not sweat the small stuff and let everything fall into place eventually.

Down below are the quote and meme of the week!