Sam: making the right choice to become a teacher

I have been thinking a lot lately about the fact that I actually have to go back to the United States soon and this thought always make me sad. I’m really going to miss Cape Town and my life here. This has really become a home to me. I know that the hardest part is going to be leaving my class at Christel House. I have 33 eight and nine year olds who I love so much. They are some of the most amazing kids I have ever met. They are all from very poor areas and the majority doesn’t have both parents at home. Many of them have parents who can’t read or write because they dropped out of school at very young ages. I saw this first hand when the parents came in for parent teacher meetings where they could pick up their child’s report. While they were there they were also asked to fill out a survey about the school and a few of them couldn’t read it so I had to sit with them and go through question by question reading and explaining it to them.  Some of the kids are taken care of by grandparents as well, which can be hard for both the child and the grandparent.  Despite all the challenges they face at home, they are so happy to be at school and really appreciate the opportunity they have been given. They love to learn and even though they can be loud and don’t always listen the first ten times, the really do like to learn. They are also so happy all the time. They love to just run around and be silly. Kids really are the same everywhere; no matter where they come from they act the same and are so full of love. I hate thinking about leaving them because I just love every single one.

I have also grown very close with my teacher, Miss Donetha. She is a really wonderful teacher and person. I have learned a lot just from watching her handle the class. She can be firm when she needs to be but she also loves to have fun with the kids too which I always think is really important. Today she had them making little insects out of paper-mache which makes a mess and I got it all over myself as well but it was so much fun and the kids loved it. I am so grateful that I got a chance to meet her and all of my kids because they really have had a huge influence on me. It also just reinforces the fact that I want to be a teacher. Its what I have always wanted to do since I was six years old. Every time I’m in a classroom I am just reminded that I am making the right choice. Sometimes I wish I could see them in a few years to see how they’re doing and I am so curious to know how they will grow up. I really am going to miss them more than anything else about Cape Town. 

Grade 3 Learners from the class in which Sam interns