Yesterday was my last day working at Summit Academy Junior High as an interventionist/TA. For me, these last nine months have been an incredible learning experience as I’ve had the opportunity to work with both teachers and students and develop good relationships with them. I loved the people I got to work with and will seriously miss them.
While I started working at the school because I needed additional income while trying to get my speaking and mentoring business off the ground, I had no idea what a great learning opportunity it would be. I’m grateful for everything I learned.
Here are a couple of takeaways from my experience working at Summit Academy:
1) Teachers are amazing. They seriously don’t get enough credit for everything they do. The teachers I worked with were completely focused on helping the kids, and I could see how much they wanted to make a difference. Being a teacher is not easy, and they certainly don’t get paid enough. However, they don’t do it for the money. They do it because they care. I also know that it means the world to them when someone notices or acknowledges the difference they’ve made. It’s something they live for, so if you know a teacher who has made a difference in your life, let them know. One compliment can keep a teacher going for an entire year!
2) It’s a completely different world than the Junior High I grew up in. Students now are given laptops, make PowerPoint presentations, create group videos, complete online assignments, and do things that normally take me literally hours to do in just minutes. I’ve been so impressed with their ability to navigate technology. If you need help with some kind of technological problem, ask a student. They will probably know exactly how to do it, and it will make them feel like a million dollars for helping you.
3) A lot of the problems I saw in the classroom had to do with the lack of respect kids had towards their teachers. Even the best teachers experienced some of this, and it’s really hard to teach a class when there are kids intentionally trying to be disruptive. I got to see a variety of ways different teachers handled this situation. In almost every case, I was impressed with how the teachers handled things. I got to be a music teacher for a very short time, and when I was done, I was very happy to go back to assisting. It’s not an easy job, and it made me appreciate teachers on a whole new level. Teachers are amazing.
While my job was mostly assisting other teachers in their classrooms, I also had the responsibility of monitoring the kids during their lunch break. This was my chance to be in charge, and I also learned a ton from this experience. Here are some of those takeaways:
1) No kid wants to be a bully. At least they don’t see it that way. Unfortunately, kids (and sometimes adults) don’t always see the effect of their actions. Whenever kids would complain to me about something someone was doing, I would first try to identify what they were doing that was causing the person to react that way. While they usually felt like victims, I think this helped the kids recognize their own power to BE the kind of person they wanted to BE (not a bully) (BE thinking) and to DO what would bring out the best in others and improve their situation (DO thinking). I love helping kids recognize their own power to change their lives and make a difference.
2) Helping kids recognize their power to BE and DO is powerful. However, it’s not something that’s a one-and-done thing. It takes repetition and modeling to help students know that it’s actually possible. I wish I could have had more time working with individual students to really help them see these different ways of thinking. It’s another big reason why I want to share this concept and help more people use it in their homes, at schools, and in their workplaces.
3) Kids love and respect the teachers that love and respect them. It’s a mirror effect I’ve found to be true time and time again. I loved seeing those teachers that cared so much about their students. I knew that was the way to make the biggest difference. I think it must be part of being a teacher because so many of them truly did care about their students.
I also noticed that this care transferred to the people they worked with. The teachers I worked with were always so caring about me and the things they could do to inspire and help me. I appreciated it so much.
As I was getting ready to leave yesterday, one of the teachers gave me a huge compliment. She said that not once had the kids come in from lunch and complained about how a situation was handled. She said it really spoke to the way I handled them with love. I hadn’t really thought about that before, but as I continued to work there, my perspective had changed a lot too. I really did care about those kids. I hoped I was making a difference, and her comment just touched my heart so much.
I will truly miss the opportunity to work and see them each day.
So what’s next? I’m hoping to finish my book this summer and get my business going once and for all! I really want more people to learn how they can use these different ways of thinking to improve their confidence, motivation, and ability to not just get along with others, but to make a difference in their lives. I think it’s something we need in this difficult world today.
We can’t change a lot of things, but we always have the power to BE the kind of person we want to BE and to DO what helps us to be happy and successful. It’s about loving ourselves and other people, and it makes such a big difference when we feel empowered and motivated.
It’s been a good year, Summit Academy. Thanks for the memories!