An ode to teachers

The bell has rung, the kids are gone, and it's completely quiet. While we love our students dearly, and are passionate and dedicated to teaching, it feels so good to be on break. One week of quiet. A break always refreshes us and helps us to be better teachers. I laugh at people who say, "Teaching has to be the best job ever-- you get June, July and August off." HA!

This is not specifically about the school we teach at, but just teaching in general: Try teaching at a school where you have hundreds of students and need/want to know each one by name (along with their interests), correcting thousands of papers, disciplining children who aren't disciplined at home and are probably quite disrespectful, and teaching children who have an unstable family life (or no family). Try focusing kids who are hungry, or wild and need recess but can't go outside because of the cold MN winters. Try understanding disabilities and dealing with how they influence the rest of your class (turrets, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, depression, anxiety, crack/fetal alcohol syndrome students ... just to name a few), hunting down students that need to make-up tests or homework, being an before/after school tutor for free, catching students cheating, and speaking to parents about their child's failing/poor grades. Try never having an "end" to your job... it's no 9-5 kind of job where you can just stop and walk out of the school. Try lesson planning all weekend, making your own activities, losing sleep while you try to figure out the best way to get your students to learn a concept. Try parent-teacher conferences, school musicals/concerts, lock-ins, field trips with punky kids, and recess and lunch duty. Try repeating yourself 3 times, staying patient when your students don't read the directions, write their name on their paper, or show their work. Try making very detailed and specific lesson plans for a substitute while you are so sick that your stomach is churning and you can hardly keep your eyes open. Try cleaning up other people's puke. Try unconditionally loving 20-30 students in each class even when they are naughty and punky, and wanting the absolute best for them no matter how disrespectful they may be towards you and others...

But try having 20-30 kids in each class adore you and look up to you as a complete role model. Try having kids tell you "I love you" and "You're the best" and not melt when they give you big hugs and smiles. Try having kids with or without learning disabilities have those "AH-HA! I get it" moments, while fostering an environment of diversity, respect and understanding. Try connecting with students based on their interests and learn about the things that they are passionate about. Try playing with them at recess, joking around with them in class until you're laughing so hard that your lungs hurt. Try seeing how much they have grown over the years. Try seeing how they can apply your subject area in the real world. Try giving them opportunities to make good choices and you won't be disappointed. Try establishing relationships and then having them contact you/keep in touch with you after they have graduated high school and have them tell you that it was worth it and "thank you!"

Teaching certainly has ups and downs, and I can certainly understand why teacher burn-out is so high and usually happens after one or two years. But it's worth it... it's so worth it.