Last time I wrote here, I was hopeful for a Math Teacher internship in our local school district. There was a real need at a nearby middle school.
I worked hard during the Fall 2025 semester — taking five core classes, completing the Constitution requirement, and earning all A’s, finishing with a 4.0 GPA. In terms of workload, I completed what was essentially two semesters’ worth of coursework in one. There was also an early fieldwork observation requirement of 120 hours, which I completed.
After all of that, the idea of stepping into student teaching initially felt like a step backward. My goal had been the internship path.
It was not meant to be.
Once I learned that the internship would not be secured, I was dropped from my internship courses and my enrollment fell below full-time status. Because it was already late in the semester, I began reconsidering student teaching more seriously.
As I looked at the situation more carefully, I started to see it differently.
Rather than viewing this as a semester of unpaid work, I began to see the upside: finishing my teaching credential by the end of the semester. I will be able to attend recruitment fairs and confidently say that I will hold my preliminary credential for the next school year. I will also no longer be limited to the two counties that have internship agreements with the university.
The constraints changed. The direction did not.
I am continuing the additional reading and independent study that I began earlier. I am still doing the extra work — not because it is required, but because I am committed to mastering the material. This is what persistence looks like in practice.
Plans shift. Scope adjusts. The work continues.
