Student Teaching Introduction

by Rebecca Verhage - Walsh Elementary

The view from the L (elevated train)
Roommates at La Casa

Welcome readers! I’d just like to begin with a little disclaimer. I’ve never really considered myself to be the blog writing type and am afraid my entrees might not be quite as well written as others before me but I’ll do my best.

As for who I am, my name is Rebecca Verhage and I come from a rural town in the middle of Washington state. The part of Washington I’m from is technically a desert, a fact most people don’t know, because of the lack of precipitation it receives. Therefore, we have irrigated farmland. I was raised in the outskirts of town where my family has raised a menagerie of livestock. Just from this short blurb you can probably guess the difference between my home and where I live now.

Other information you might like to know is that I am a fifth year senior finishing up an Elementary Education degree at Trinity Christian College, and am due to graduate in December!!! For those of you who have been near the end of a four or five year degree, you understand my enthusiastic anticipation.  However, I am very content and excited to be living in the Pilsen neighborhood for the next three months in order to have the opportunity to live and work in a city as grand as Chicago.

John A. Walsh Elementary School
Pilsen Neighborhood

For my internship, I have been placed at Walsh Elementary School in the Pilsen neighborhood in which I live. Pilsen is on the southwest side of Chicago and is predominately a Hispanic area. It is a wonderful place to enjoy authentic Mexican dishes and pastries! I am really glad to be living in the same area as my students because I have been able to get a better idea of what their day to day lives are like by living it myself. I also really enjoy the Hispanic culture evident throughout the streets.

I am working with the Language Arts teacher for the seventh graders at Walsh. They are great kids and each day is full of the drama of middle school students but also the laughs and the giggles. I have been fortunate to have received a very supportive cooperating teacher and think I am off to a good start to the semester but more about that later.

Living in the city is something that drew me to the Chicago Semester program. I was going to school in the suburbs so I had visited the city often but living in it is so different. In a matter of weeks, my general knowledge of city locations has grown so that I no longer need a map to move get around. I have become a natural at riding public transit and have enjoyed that as well. A benefit of city living is opportunities it offers. There are always things going on and things to do in the city from the Jazz festival I went to with my roommates in Millennium Park, the Mexican independence parade just outside our apartment, a play featuring Dr. King at the Court Theater and accessibility to the beach.

Mexican Independence Day Parade in Pilsen

Chicago semester does a great job with their Arts and the city program and with letting us know about free things going on in Chicago that we can participate in. I’m looking forward to learning more and sharing with you about my experiences in Chicago and the classroom!

Be blessed.