Hello! It is Beckett again, and today, I’m going to be recapping everything about my senior project. The ups. The downs. The questions, answers, and all of the in-between.

So here it goes!

When I started my senior project, I was very nervous. “Nervous” might actually be underplaying how I was feeling. Not only was I anxious about how I might be perceived as a teacher’s assistant, but I was also nervous about reliving that middle school experience. In all honesty, middle school was a rough time for me. So, being there in middle school, I aspired to be the mentor that little me would have wanted in those trying years.

On my first day of work, amidst the beautiful chaos of the sixth-grade classroom, I knew immediately I would be fine. Here, I came to learn so much about my students and, in turn, myself. Teaching the areas of various polygons, plotting points on a coordinate plane, and joking about Italian brain rot, I had the pleasure of reinventing my middle school story into one of belonging, growth, and joy. It was more than “fine.” It felt like home.

As I’m going into college next year, I look forward to carrying forward this passion for education. I’m not sure what capacity I’ll be teaching, but I know that I’ll always carry that love and passion for joint learning forward, always.

I don’t know if teaching will ever stop making me “nervous,” but “nervousness” holds a different, positive connotation now.

I am so excited and nervous about everything to come.