This week has been a very unique experience as I'm sure many of the interns would agree. After only being in school for 3 days the first week, I was very excited to return back to school today! It was a great feeling to see my students and mentor teacher after the 7 day strike and get back into the swing of things. Being apart of this internship has taught me so much in such a short amount of time and I am so grateful for the experiences I am receiving. This strike is something I will definitely remember for the rest of my life. As a future teacher, it is so important to stand up for my rights and my students' rights and I feel the CTU strike was an excellent example of that. As far as the first day back went, I was happy to be greeted with enthusiasm and positivity by everyone I came in contact with. In my opinion, my students acted very mature when we discussed why we were not in school and many actually knew a lot of information about why teachers went on strike and did not show any negative feelings.
The staff appeared very happy to be back and students were able to follow the routines we started the first week of school. My mentor teacher said that picketing for hours on end was not an easy task and how mentally, physically, and emotionally drained she felt after the long days. I feel that is something people don't understand unless they have actually done it themselves. So many people considered teachers to be on "vacation" during the strike, but that was not the case at all. Many of the parents at my school seemed to be in full support of the teachers which I was pleased to see. At the end of the day, my Principal called a staff meeting to get the faculty's thoughts after the strike and do team building exercises. We got into partners and started with an "I feel" statement. This was a powerful activity because many teachers became emotional about being back at school with their students and how they felt about the past week. After we did this exercise, our principal read us the book, "Click Clack Moo" by Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin. She explained how this book could be a powerful, kid-friendly way to explain what a strike is and answer any questions students have. It really made me see how united my school is and how fortunate I am to be an intern in this supportive environment.
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