Reflections

So it's been a while since I've blogged here, but that's not to say that I haven't been busy at the ITA. In the past six months or so I've learned a lot about the ITA, having worked directly in it as Unit Support and a Coordinator. I'd say that my initial understanding of the program was mostly accurate, that this is a very special program that teaches valuable lessons to a great group of kids. But, some of the specifics are a little different than I thought. For one thing, I realize now how much effort goes into a single ITA session, and how much planning is involved. The kids are great, but now I see that they require a good deal of attention on even the smallest detail, since they come from so many different backgrounds and have so many different ideas about what they should be doing with their Saturday. It's an uphill struggle in some ways, but it's all the more rewarding for its difficulty. It's when the students who are having the hardest time really get it, or really start to knuckle down and get to work, that I feel like I've accomplished something as a teacher.

It's difficult to talk of successes in a job like this, since such things can only be measured by the long-term effects of what you're doing, but also because there are so many varied little things that could be considered "successes" as to practically make the word irrelevant. Remembering student's names, or getting them comfortable with you to the point that they high-five you in the hallways, helping them pass their Permit Tests, or teaching them a lesson that they find both interesting and informative, these are all successes. If I could go back to last August I would make sure I understood that. I would tell myself to be prepared for a lot of different kinds of kids, and to be prepared for a number of little things that will both annoy and amuse me. Patience is the key word, and I plan to incorporate that into everything that I do at the ITA. I will both expand my knowledge of the curriculum as well as come up with new ways to get information through to the kids, and bring what I can to their education.