Her Confidence Was Low

I am currently undergoing my bachelors degree in education at the University of Regina, in Saskatchewan Canada. I have just completed my pre-internship; this is where I spend about 3 weeks in a school taking over classes so I can practice teaching, managing a classroom, and developing relationships with students. Throughout my pre-internship, I met a student who I just couldn't wait to get to know better.


Her bubbly personality and mature attitude was a breath of fresh air while teaching a class of grade ten boys and girls. She was mature in a way that she would ask how I was doing, and would check in on me to see if I needed help, even though that was supposed to be my job.


However, her confidence was low. Seeing as how I teach physical education, there are many classes where students may be uncomfortable, but this seemed to be more than a couple for her. It's not that she didn't want to try, she did, I knew she did, but she was scared. She didn't want to embarrass herself and was terrified of failing, she didn't want to be bad at anything. Therefore, she would approach me with a smile and let me know that she felt more comfortable sitting to the side and watching opposed to participating.


As I developed a stronger relationship with this student, I began convincing her that everything was okay and that she should try, and she did. As I lead the class, I would perform every task or skill, no matter what, even if I made a complete fool of myself, I would get up in front of everyone and miss 26 shots in a row, as long as I was doing this, she would become more comfortable, so I did.
As my term came to an end, I didn't want to leave without her knowing I would still be there to push her. I couldn't imagine anyone more deserving of this. Therefore, with my goodbye to the class, I presented this student with my "fearless" dainty chain necklace. As she teared up,she asked for a hug and gave me a note that she had written for me as I departed. The note spoke of the impact I had on her and her confidence levels, about how she's never had a teacher show how much they care before and how she will forever be grateful for that.
And I will forever be grateful too.