Being a Teacher

I absolutely adore being a teacher. Okay, the pay is terrible and the hours are never-ending, but I get to spend nearly 8 hours a day with 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds (yes, quite the range). I listen to their stories (one of my students has recollected moments from a Sea World trip this past summer every day for 8 days straight now), help them open Capri Suns (who the heck was the genius who created that design?), tie their shoes (in double knots of course), remind them of manners (very difficult with 6 year old boys) and pin up beautiful drawings and notes from them on my bulletin board ("you are an angel" and "I love you" and most recently, "1st Grade rokcs" - with that spelling). And all of that is in addition to actually teaching them how to read, write, add, and subtract. And in the midst of it all, they make me laugh on a regular basis.

For example, on Grandparents Day, I had a number of grandmothers in my classroom working on a project with their grandchildren when one of the kids asked loudly, "How many more old ladies are gonna come?"

Or how about when I was teaching a lesson on capitalization and we were listing family member's and pet's names and one of my first graders asked me to write the name "Buffy" ("even though he's dead now, I really miss that goldfish") which of course sparked a conversation of many-a -dead goldfish pets (bad pet choice mom and dad!) Evidently, the best way to dispose of a dead goldfish is to flush him or her down the toilet (I learn a lot from these kids).

And then there was the day one of my boys asked me for a shovel and some water so that he could dig a hole in the field to put his apple core into so that our school would have an apple tree for the kids to pick from "since a lot of kids forget a snack." If that isn't cute, I don't know what is!

I am so blessed to be a part of these student's lives and I truly cherish the days I have with them. Though teaching is a very difficult job, and I often vent about bad days and frustrations (my husband and parents can attest to that), I truly love what I do and pray everyday that I am making a significant difference in the kids' lives. Because they certainly are in mine =)