Final Post

I would like to thank Orchard Elementary in Orem and more specifically Mrs. Tew for giving me this experience and helping me through the stress and joy of working with students every day. When I asked to do my service learning there they asked me all kinds of questions to get to know me better and place me with a teacher and class that would best fit me and what I was looking to get out of the experience. I would recommend doing your first service-learning experience at Orchard to anyone who asks me.  They did their best to help me with the experience and show me what I would be getting myself into if I decided to continue with this career.This semester has been like nothing else I have ever experienced. The COVID-19 situation changed the way we teach children for the time being and showed the work that teachers put into their work.  As I participated in service-learning I was able to spend time with students not only in a positive setting but in a stressful one as well. Teaching isn't all sunshine and rainbows there will always be situations that don't go exactly as you planned and service-learning taught me that being able to deal with those changes is the hardest and most important part of teaching. Before I took this class I already knew that I wanted to be a teacher but seeing what it takes to be one made me want it even more. I miss service learning and being with students every day and I had planned to continue working in the classroom even after my service learning was over but unfortunately, COVID-19 made that impossible. I have been very lucky to be accepted into the elementary education program next fall. The program itself is only two years long which in the scheme of things isn't that long. But it's too long for me to wait so I've come up with a plan. I decided to be placed in the 3pm cohort so that I can work at a school even though I will not be a teacher yet I still want to work with students every day.