Intern

Tomorrow I embark on a new adventure:  I'm going to have an intern in my classroom. In Texas, we called these people "student teachers."  Alabama just has a different lingo.

If I'm being honest with myself, I can admit that I'm terrified and excited.  Right now, the terror is reigning supreme.  Feelings of inferiority are surfacing.  Fear of criticism is bubbling up from I have no idea where.  I have never had a student teacher before, nor have I ever been one myself.  I have no idea what I'm doing.

I just heaved a big sigh after reading that last paragraph over.

But, if you know me, you know I try not to dwell on the negative.  I'm not saying that I don't dwell on the negative--I'm just saying that I *try* not to.  So, let's accentuate the positive for a minute, shall we?

Reasons Why I Agreed to Have an Intern
by E. Beaver

1.  Only tenured teachers are offered interns.  I am now tenured (wahoo!).
2.  There was a dire need for available placements, since Auburn is graduating 20 secondary English teachers in the next year.  (Um, are they crazy??  From one program??  There aren't that many English teacher jobs in the whole state!  I think it was irresponsible of them to not dissuade some of these people from this particular subject area.  TWENTY!!  Not including the English teacher grads from the other universities in the state--there are going to be a lot of jobless people next year.)
3.  Having an intern will give me time to work on curriculum development for next year.
4.  Having an intern will give me someone to work with to work on curriculum development.
5.  I will have time and motivation to improve my teaching.
6.  I will learn new information from fresh-from-the-university-setting intern.
7.  If nothing else, the poor victim will learn what not to do.

Please pray from me and my intern over the next 16, that it is a good fit, and that we both learn and grow.

Cheers!