Ladies and gentlemen, I have come here today to admit that I have a problem. They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to moving forward. Ready for it? I, Khrys Bosland, am a total control freak. Seriously, I have issues. If they locked people in tiny padded rooms for being OCD Type A perfectionists who cannot give up control for even a moment, then MAN I would have been thrown in that hole years ago. I overanalyze every situation and focus on the most minuscule details possible. Everything. Must. Be. Perfect. Sweet jesus. Now you are all picturing me rocking back and forth in a straight jacked with my hair all whacked out and my eyes all twitchy. Let me be clear, I am not a crazy. Ok, maybe a little, but who isn't?!
All of this being said, you can see my hesitation when it comes to having an intern or student teacher. I ALWAYS said to myself, there is no way on this great green Earth that I would ever be able to relinquish control long enough to assist a new teacher in their journey. Especially when my pay depends on how well my students score on the end of the year test (let's not even think about opening that can of worms right now). Talk about stress.
Well I am here to tell you that YES pigs can fly, and hell has frozen over, and the bright sun has risen in the west, and yes, even the cows have come home because this year, I had an intern! Hooray! And I am a much better teacher because of it :) I gave up control and it almost pains me to admit this out loud, so I think I will whisper it, **I actually ENJOYED it** GASP! SHOCK! {somebody just passed out} Yes my lovely ones, I enjoyed it. It was amazing. And I'm not sure I will ever do it again. HA!
So let's talk about student teachers. More specifically, let's talk about MY student teacher. She was an angel sent from heaven, a true little treasure in this world. And she looked like a supermodel.
Is she not adorable?! Let me tell you, the moment we began working together, I knew that it would be a perfect fit. She actually understood my OCD and she thought just like me! She could literally tell me exactly what I was going to say. Plus she was super creative, organized, and helpful and a total go-getter. I wanted to start her off on the right track so on her very first day, I gave her a little gift basket full of fun goodies from Target! I added treats and office supplies, a planner, and a picture frame that she could put on her desk in our room!
I also made her a super organized and informative (ahem, there's that ocd shining through) Internship Binder packed with everything she would need to know to have a successful internship!
Here are pictures of SOME of the pages I included:
She absolutely LOVED it! I was so happy that she found it helpful.
You can grab this EDITABLE binder pack for your new intern or student teacher from my TPT store by clicking HERE or clicking the picture below!
After that first day, we were linked. She was an awesome teacher to begin with, which was super helpful. As I watched her teach and helped her grow, I was amazed at how great she was doing. I felt excited about her future and all of the incredible things that she was destined for.
When it was finally time for my intern to leave us, I literally cried and cried. I was so sad to see her go. After spending months together, relying on each other constantly, it was sad (and truly a bit scary) to see her go. I found myself thinking, how do I do this on my own?! There is nothing like having a second person in the room when you teach kindergarten. How often I would say "can you grab that..." or "can you run her to the..." or "where is that.." So on that last day, I did it up Bosland style!
Did you know that Publix can make picture cakes?! I created a powerpoint slide and added all the pictures and graphics. Then printed it out and brought the page to Publix. They make an editable version and print it right on the cake. It was about $50, which is a bit steep, but the end result was definitely worth it in my opinion. Super cool right?!
Most of these little gifts I bought from Hobby Lobby! The pencil with her name on it was from Etsy and it was only $15! You can find it at the Etsy shop "WonderfullyWordy05".
The template for the little thumbprint tree gift is included in my Student Teacher Binder Pack mentioned above!
I HAD to include the Frozen soundtrack in her bucket. We must have listened to it every single day during snack time for like weeks. The kids were completely obsessed and honestly, so were we in the end. I'm not gonna lie, we may have had a Frozen sing-off one day after the kids left. Just sayin' - it's catchy.
One of my favorite things that I included in her gift was a book from every unit that she taught the little ones during her time with us. It was a great memory for her to remember her experience with us as well as a fantastic way to begin her own classroom library! The books I included were all books that we had read from the following units:
Moon Unit: Phases of the Moon by Gillia Olson
St. Patrick's Day Unit: The Night Before St. Patrick's Day by Natasha Wing
Easter Unit: The Story of the Easter Bunny by Katherine Tegen
Circus Unit: See the Circus by H.A. Rey
Penguin Unit: Penguin Chick by Betty Tatham
Dinosaur Unit: Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton
Transportation Unit: Whose Vehicle is This? by Sharon Katz Cooper
Valentine's Day Unit: Pete the Cat Valentine's Day is Cool by James Dean
100th Day Unit: The Night Before the 100th Day of School by Natasha Wing
Wizard of Oz Unit: The Wizard of Oz by Carol Ottolenghi
The kids did NOT want to see her go, and neither did I. It was so sad!
In the end, the kids had an amazing year with two fun teachers in the room! I had an amazing year with the help of my awesome intern. And Ms. Chase had an amazing year learning and growing with our crazy little kinder-krew!
So I survived my very first experience with a student teacher and I loved it! Hooray! I'm not sure if I will be having another intern any time soon. I think I want to take a year off and be on my own. This year has been totally bonkers and I'm ready for a normal, relaxed year. But I'll never say never, so who knows!
FLASH GIVEAWAY!!
Leave a comment below telling me about your intern experience or if you would/wouldn't want an intern (please include your name and email)!
I will choose one winner on Thursday at 5 pm and send them the Student Teacher Binder Pack for free!!
Good luck :) Love ya tons! XO
