I have the privilege of interning at one of the schools in the Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools District in the fall of this year. Being off work on an injury for the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to spend many hours in the classroom of my co-operating teacher, helping out and learning about the school. When I first found out I had to take time off of work for my injury, I was rather frustrated at the idea of spending weeks at home with nothing productive to do. Having been given the amazing offer of spending as much time as I wanted in the school working with my co-operating teacher has been beneficial in so many ways. I have had the chance to get to know the basics of how the school works, been able to start to get to know the staff, and have been able to help my co-operating teacher out with several fairly major projects to wrap the year up.

Many have questioned why I choose to spend so much time at the school while off work instead of staying at home and sleeping the days away or shopping my savings away. The reasons are many, but they all boil down to my desire to succeed in my internship and in my career as an educator. Many do not understand that during the time I have spent at the school over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to see many of the end of the year procedures and routines – something which is not afforded us during our four month internship.

I am very excited about this upcoming internship. I already feel that my co-operating teacher and I have begun to develop a good working relationship between ourselves as well as good communication. I have had the chance to observe his teaching styles and the way he relates to the students, and I have had the chance to pick up many very useful teaching tricks and tips already.

So, while my internship hasn`t officially begun, I don`t think there is any better time than the present to get started.