If you have a job that you love, cool. But if you have a job that mostly doesn't feel like a job, THEN you have something worth hanging on to.
I am not sure who said those words to me. But, I firmly believe in them.
This afternoon was another great example of this. I met with another parent and talked to one on the phone. Both of them were met with my usual happy upbeat personality, but I think they both were surprised by how very clear I am. So many teachers are so tired of what they do, that I don't think they really understand how vital they are. Some truly do not understand the impact they can have on their student population and the lasting effects of those relationships.
Each year I say that I have 204 kids; 4 I gave birth to and 200 that the school gave me. This year I feel that even more than normal. These kids are really incredible. I hear people say, "they have such a bright light" about different people and I've never really known what that meant. This year I do. These kids are AMAZING. They soak up the material while we're in class. They tell me jokes. They tell me problems. They ask me questions. They are incredible. I force them to work really, really, really, hard and they do it.
For the most part, I don't have any behavior issues. Ever. It is so strange to me. I've never been this lucky before. I give all the credit to the kids. Don't get me wrong, I am working my tushie off! I study every night to make sure I can teach them correctly, do my best to write quizzes and tests that are aligned with the primary learning objectives, write lesson plans that I think are really fun and they they will engage in and then write study guides that I believe will guide them in the right direction. It's the best hard work I've done in a long time.
I think this is the, "I am so blessed" post. Most of the time those sound so trite to me. I hope this doesn't sound that way. But, truly, I have never had a roster full of kids for whom I feel nearly the same way as I feel about my own kids. They're incredible. They make me want to work harder at my classes for my Doctorate to be sure that I am working at setting a good example.
Now, this is where I get pretty out of character for me....If you are of the praying kind, whatever your method, prayer beads, incense, spiritual gods, good vibes, positive energy, what have you; say a prayer for us. We have a big mountain to climb to try and get these kids to reach the proficient goal on the end of course test in May. I want to see these sweet kids reach the top. Help us reach the top.