Organization is Key

Hello everyone! It's been a while and I know you all missed me ;D

It's summer break for me and I will soon be entering my first semester in college! I was clearing out all of my things from grade school and I stumbled upon all of my Ready, Set, Teach stuff! All the worksheets, lesson plans, and portfolios that I created were still intact. I decided it was time for some organization. I already had a portfolio made containing a couple of lesson plans, classroom ideas, my resume, and other teaching resources that I needed for the TAFE competition. I decided to put all my other lesson plans and important things inside the portfolio. Any copies and miscellaneous papers went into a file folder.

After finally organizing everything, I just realized how fit I am for being a teacher. It's hard work and it requires very specific skills such as organization and patience. These are things not everyone has. I'm so happy to be taking the road I am. It may not be the road I intended but I'm glad I'm on it. Everything seems to be falling in place just right! Now I just need the next four years to go by quicker...

And That's a Wrap

Today, I was faced with the inevitable. Saying goodbye to my 6th grade students on their graduation day was difficult. It was great spending one last day with them and cherishing these past year's moments. Although a few kids are moving out of state and going elsewhere, a good majority are sticking around in town so it's more like a "See you later" kind of thing. I'm honestly so proud of each and every one of them because they succeeded and did so many great things. I hope that one day I'll be able to see them again and watch them cross the stage to earn their real diploma. They will forever and always be my first class I ever taught. Today was emotional for many - it was also my last day of high school. Although I could care less about high school, I wish I could do this entire year over again with my students. It was so much fun and an experience I will never forget. I'm blessed to have had this amazing opportunity and I'm blessed to have had so much fun with it. 

If one of my students ever happens to stumble across this page, here's my advice to you: 
Never stop trying and always try your hardest. You have the potential so use it and use it to your fullest. Strive for the most difficult scenarios and always reach for you dreams. Given that, never stop dreaming. Also, it's never really "goodbye" but rather a "see you later" because life always has its little ways of bringing back a group of kids who grew up together. 

Summer Jobs and Work

Now that I'm unemployed in the tutoring business, I need a job. For the past year, I've been tutoring my cousin who is currently being homeschooled. It was a legit job - hard work and everything haha. Anywho, he finished his homeschooling yesterday and I realized that I have no job for the summer. 

I've been thinking I should expand my experience with kids more and possibly work at a daycare or something of that sort. My number one wish this summer is to work as a camp counselor because I honestly think it's a great way to get experience and have fun while working. 

I'm honestly not sure where this summer is going to take me - vacations upon vacations and busy schedules are all in the midst. Wherever it does take me, I'm looking forward to every bit of it :)

Last Day with Ready, Set, Teach

Last Thursday was my last day with my 6th grade kiddos! I haven't been able to post about this every since due to the busy schedule I had that day and the following weekend. However, I'm free now so here it goes! 

Overall, my experience with Ready, Set, Teach! and the kids this year was unforgettable. I cannot explain to you how much I will miss my kids. Teaching them and bonding with them was an amazing experience and they have truly taught me so much. Aside from the fun stuff, I was able to learn so much from my field site teacher and the children. They taught me how difficult it really is to be a teacher and how much patience and nurturing the career requires. They also taught me how much I love teaching. I just love knowing that my kids have walked away with knowledge in their little minds and a smile on their faces after they have left my class. It's a wonderful feeling - to change a life. I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids. This journey of mine has been incredible and a simple blog post cannot express to the fullest my true feelings. I'm so glad I took this class and I'm so glad to have come back to my educational roots. 

Although I'm very conflicted (still) on whether my true passion is engineering or education, I'm still experimenting. My plan is to take a few engineering courses in the fall semester and if I feel like it's something that I really love then I'll pursue it. If not, then I guess education was and always has been the right path for me to pursue! As for graduation, well I'm graduating in 10 days! Crazy right? These 10 days are going by so quickly and I'm so ready to begin this new chapter in my life. 

I just hope that one day, wherever I go, I'll look back upon my old Ready, Set, Teach! memories and remind myself of the first class I ever taught. 

For now, I'm Ms. Ahmed to those same students and I won't be Ms. Ahmed again to another group of students for a while. It's a bittersweet feeling really. I'm happy to move forward, yet sad to see my kids go. This isn't the last chapter of my education journey - I know that for sure. Whether I pursue a teaching degree in generalist or one in STEM education, I know that someday I will be teaching in a classroom of my own and hopefully I'll be known as Mrs. Ahmed. ;)

Until then, this blog may be on a hiatus. Thank you all for following my RST journey! Let's begin on a new one at UTA :) 

With lot of love and education inspiration,
Miss Ahmed

Changes, changes

I asked my physics teacher, Mr. Dickerson, why he wanted to become a teacher. He told me this huge speech of his that brought tears to both our eyes. In short, he said that he wanted to teach because of the students. 

For a while now, I’ve been stuck in the middle of a very taut rope. On one side is engineering and on the other is education. Ever since I was a little kid, I wouldn’t really play with Barbies but rather fix things and figure how weird things worked. I would create my own little inventions out of cardboard and other things I could get my hands on. I was soon introduced to engineering. From then on, my entire family always said, “Oh Misbah will become an engineer. She’ll do great in engineering”. I was never given any other choices in my life. However, in the midst of figuring out how things would work, I would also lay all my unused Barbies and teddy bears in a line and teach them. I would teach them math and english right after I would get home from school. And that’s the story of how these two professions came into my life.

Now here’s where it got complicated. This past year, I was given an opportunity to take Ready, Set, Teach! It’s a class where we go out to elementary schools and student teach. I decided to pick 6th grade and I fell in love with them from the first day. The kids were the best. They never ceased to make me smile. When I got up to teach them, I fell even more in love with teaching. Walking away from that classroom, knowing I instilled knowledge in those little brains, put a feeling of utter and complete happiness in me. Happiness that has not died since that first day. As I began to love teaching more, I realized that my interest in engineering was fading very slowly. That interest fluctuates as a result of my bipolar disorder. I will love engineering so much one week and then lose interest the next. I’m also very stubborn. Well, when I didn’t know what to do, I began praying. I put my full faith in God and decided that He knows what is best for me. I also began looking at the pro’s and con’s of each profession. The pro’s of engineering was that it gave a good pay. The con’s: the pay was not going to last long - women will always get paid less, I also refuse to be put down by my male colleagues just because I am a female. The pro’s of teaching: I get a job right out of college due to my Ready, Set, Teach benefits, I get to do something that I absolutely love for the next 40 years of my life, and it’s something that I will never get tired of. The cons: the pay isn’t that great, but I was never in for a career because of the money. It was only until today that I was given what seems to be a sign from God. 

Engineering will always be a male dominated career. That does not mean that women will not be able to do it. It only means that women will be neglected in the work force and will be bullied at work to an extent. There’s never any guarantee that your boss will be kind and give you equal pay as the men. For the past four years, I’ve stressed over things I shouldn’t have stressed over and I don’t want the next four years of my life to be like that. I don’t want to miss family occasions because I have a test to study for. I also do not want to look for months for a job. Knowing I have a set job right out of college is the best thing anyone could ask for. All in all, I love teaching and there’s not more or less to it.

So here’s my final decision. I am officially changing my major from Civil Engineering to Education. It’s been a long journey trying to figure out what I need to do and I’m glad I’ve decided. To me, being able to teach a child and change that child’s life in some way, shape, or form is the best thing in the world. It’s about doing what I love and nothing else. No other profession can beat that. 

I am honestly in the happiest mood in the world right now :) 

Cluster and Field Trips

It's the time of the year when all schools are having all their special events and field trips! This time of the year is not only super exciting but it also means that the school year is coming to an end! I am most definitely ready to graduate - I'm actually very conflicted about it, however. You see, I've been wanting to graduate since I walked into my high school four years ago. Now that I've experienced Ready, Set, Teach; I never want to leave! I cannot express to you how thankful I am for these group of kids to enter my life and allow me to be their student teacher. It's definitely been a life changing experience that I will never forget. 

Regardless of my dwindling time with my students, I still have managed to sneak in some more time with them! On Wednesday, the kids were having a field trip to their local junior high and I decided to take the entire day off from my school to spend a school day with them. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! First of all, I need to buy super comfy shoes when I become a teacher because they literally stand for 8 hours! Also, I now understand why teachers push for quiet/independent time. It was so serene when all the students were diligently working and you could hear a pin drop. The kids are so hyper during the school day and it's a lot to handle. After Wednesday, I will always give major props to any elementary school teacher. 

Today (Thursday) was the annual Cluster Track Meet. Also known as Cluster, the track meet is an all day event that's pretty much like field day - except you compete against other 6th graders from neighboring schools. All the elementary schools showed up to my high school because it was taking place in my high school's track field. I decided to take the school day off to watch them compete! During some of the events, I found myself tearing up because the kids were working so hard and they were winning and I was just so proud of them. They really needed a day off just to have fun after all the hard work and endless state testing they went through for the entire year. Although my elementary school did get quite a few 1st place ribbons, they didn't win overall - HOWEVER - the other schools were cheating heavily and were not following the Cluster rules. Knowing that our kids were playing fair made our losses AND wins a positive. 

For now, field trips are over and they have one more state test to take before school is out and they are ready to move on! I'm definitely going to cry, if not tear up during their graduation and clap out.

Six

6 years ago, I left my elementary school, not really knowing where I would end up in 6 years. I had the strongest yearning to go back to my elementary school for the past 6 years, but I never went through with it. I had no clue that I would be teaching 6 years later in the same elementary that I left and loved so much. It feels so weird to see my old classrooms, filled with other students and filled with a new teacher. 6 years ago, I was in my students' positions. 6 years ago, I had no ambition to be a teacher and now it's everything that I ever talk about! This makes me think: where will I be 6 years from now? Will I be in my city or across the country? Will I be a teacher or engineer? Will I be married  with kids? Hmm who knows!