Week 13: From Scared to Successful

I can't believe that I only have 2 more weeks here at CASH! The time has flown by so fast and I can't express the impact that this opportunity has had on me. The teachers, the students and all of the things Ive had the chance to experience have been nothing short of awesome! I am so excited for these last few days I get to spend here and am sad to leave CASH but I'm excited for whatever life hands me next!

This week has been a great example of getting over fears and finding our strengths. Last semester as I prepared to come to CASH to student teach, I got more nervous the closer it got. I was excited about my placement and the things I was going to teach but still I was as nervous as ever. I was afraid of messing up or even scared that I wouldn't like it. Once I got here though, I realized that I really did love to teach and that all the people here had my back. As the weeks went on I got more and more comfortable and was starting to see growth in myself and also my students. 

This week I saw the same thing happening in many of my students. A while back the Agriculture 1 students began building wooden benches. I watched as they struggle to use the power tools, were afraid to use the saws and spent more time talking about how they couldn't do it instead of giving it a try. The same thing was happening with the older students as they worked on their welding projects. The students were afraid they would burn themselves or that their welds wouldn't be good enough. 

Well this week as our projects are coming to an end, I noticed that the students were working in the shop like they have been doing it their whole lives! They were working together to get their projects done. They weren't saying that they couldn't do it but instead showing off what they had done to every other student in the class. The students who were afraid to weld were the first ones in the booth and had some of the best beads of the day. 

It made me so happy to see the students so excited about their projects they had finished. It really made all the long shop days of working with complaining students worth it and it made me proud to be their teacher!

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

-John Wayne