From a Warm Welcome, to a Grateful Goodbye

[Jalen Causey]

One image that will linger with me will be my second to last day. When I walked in, everyone was asking me if that day was my last day – which said to me that they had been talking about me – and when I told them that actually Monday would be my last day, the whole room let out a groan. Then one of the teachers asked if I’ll be back, stating that they would be happy having me back in the class. And for the rest of the class, while also helping students with their work, they would sometimes ask me personal questions like what my major was and why I was a psychology major in a math class (which made me laugh). At the end of class, a couple of students were interested in my age and so I had them guess. Everyone that participated, and even one of the teachers, guessed that I was 21, 22, all the way up to 25! Starting even from the moment I heard the class groan, it made me sad that I had to leave them, but It felt nice that the students now saw me as part of their classroom experience. It also warmed my heart when they would ask me questions and/or talk about their wants for their future educational pursuits. And even for them to invite me back, I’m truly considering it!

I think this image is representative of my experience as a whole because that’s what I’ve really been focusing on since the beginning: connection. I wanted to be there every day that I was supposed to and be there on time for them. I wanted to show consistency and a willingness to help in any capacity that I could, even with me being for such a short amount of time. In terms of considerations about teaching and learning, it really reminds me of what my mom talked about when I asked for her advice at the beginning of the term. She told me that one of the most important things for students especially at that age is being consistent. One never knows what is going on in a student’s life, and possibly the school is the only place where they can rely on someone being there or something happening.

One of my conclusions for the paper will be “Creating consistency and stability in the class is of utmost importance,” I think the consistency of my presence and the stability and warmth I helped create in the classroom facilitated learning. With that kind of environment, teaching is able to happen with gentleness and firmness that allows students to be taught.

Overall, I’m just truly thankful for being able to go into the classroom and observe and tutor. After going there for my last day, I felt relieved. I feel as though I truly helped them learn. I said a cute little five-second speech, just really telling them that I loved how they welcomed me into the class, how I learned so much from them, and how I hoped they also learned from me, and I thanked them for the experience they gave me. So many of the students talked about how they would miss me. Honestly, I’m considering going back in either a similar or the same capacity. Studying all of the different theories in class and then seeing how they do or do not work, are and are not put into practice, made this class overall really engaging. I loved working with the students. I can tell that, more often than not, they are putting their best foot forward in order to get the content, and I love that they do that every day.

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