Now that my externship and the first week of school are over, I have come to the realization that no matter how important I think my presence in the classroom is, nothing matters without the students.  While that sounds painfully obvious and a bit trite, my externship gave me a great opportunity to meet new people, write great lesson plans, and face the fact that I have a great deal to learn.  For starters….

1. Lesson plans mean nothing without a test group – I need my students to make my plans come to life (or die a slow death!).
2. The business world is not a glamorous as I thought, and I would much rather spend my day with a bunch of teenagers than adults – they are much more honest in their critiques.
3. The food industry NEVER takes a day off, even when it rains.
4. Having too many things to do (learning how to maneuver PowerSchool, outdated technology, SACS, athletic ticket gate management, writing lesson plans, conducting inventory of books, working with two BT’s, and attending multiple meetings) somehow makes sense.  While the rest of the world must often contend with a “hurry up and wait” mentality, we teachers spend our days trying to do many things that have no connection other than making school a better place for students.
5. Nice people are everywhere, and the outside world isn’t really full of Cretans who want to see public education fail.
6. Most important, the one who has the most to learn in any classroom isn’t the student;  instead, it is the teacher.

What my Kenan Fellowship has ultimately given me is the insight to begin each day as a student, a researcher, a social scientist.  I’m not sure what my students want me to learn, but I know the assessment will make me a better teacher and hopefully a better person.