After the Rain

If a young person told you they wanted to become a teacher, what would you tell her/him?

It's the hardest job in the world but the best job in the world! 

It allows your personality to peek out, you have flexibility to be yourself and most often the latitude to do what you need to do within your classes. Although I have never been anything else but a teacher in my career, I have had some part-time jobs here and there throughout the summers. What monotony and numbness to the mind it brings doing the same thing every day! I felt like the walls were closing in on me. In education, my days are busy and full of curve balls, but also full of great conversation about techniques and tips and theory about the craft of teaching. My mind is firing every day on four cylinders; learning, absorbing, watching, noting, adjusting and then starting it all over again!

Teaching is a job that is strenuous yet filled with unexpected rewards, so that always wipes the slate clean for me. Like a good rain that washes everything away and the world is once again clean and fresh and new.  Just today I received this email from a mom as grades for the semester arrived home after final exams!

Hi,

We are so proud of Nadia and how she scored on her final… We are all hoping you teach Spanish 3 next year… Thanks for being such a great teacher and for making Spanish worth studying in Nadia’s eyes..

Warm Regards,
Donna 

This was an unexpected gift- this mom had no idea that I had been running around in the morning planning for active classrooms that would spark student interest and keep them wanting to learn. Small thank you from this mom today is all I need to keep going...I need to remember to pay forward this act of kindness forward to someone else in the hopes that it will help them keep moving forward as well!