Pettis - COE Mental Health (2)

Anxious. This is one word that would describe how I felt after our final planning meeting. As a senior SYOSP student in a Title I school, I feel pretty confident in my abilities to teach and manage a classroom. However, fear ran through my body when I found out I would be in the classroom solo with 31 middle schoolers.
I went into the middle school feeling excited on Friday morning. In my student teaching experience with 5th graders I have had moving conversations about bullying and race. I looked forward to seeing how bullying has affected a different demographic of students.

Overall, the day far exceeded my expectations. Students were engaged in the lessons and had honest conversations. As I reflected on the day I thought about what I took away. The most eye opening thing to me was the loss of community when students transition from elementary to middle school. You could tell students didn't have a good sense of where they belonged within the school and classroom. There were several times in the day where one student didn't know the name of another student in their class. This was amazing to me because these kids have been together since at least January. This has me thinking about how I can better prepare my current 5th graders for their upcoming transition.

This experience reiterated the importance of a community and all school staff to work in order to develop children in all aspects, not just academically. Students at this school felt like there was a big bullying issue in the school. The anxiety that accompanies those who are bullied hinder learning. Many of the staff knew change was needed but didn't have the time or resources to start this conversation. We provided a platform for not only students but also staff to talk about bullying and mental health.

Finally, I learned the importance of creating an environment and building relationships so students feel comfortable reporting issues to me. Students need to trust that I will not only listen to their concerns but also follow through with them.

As a senior who is graduating in just a few short weeks this experience was amazing for me. It gave me the opportunity to work in a rural school, collaborate with my fellow COE peers, and help plan and execute an anti-bullying curriculum. In addition to the service, it gave me a chance to reconnect with three fellow orange blockers who I started Phase II with.

Kristin Brouillet