People who don’t teach don’t get it. Period. With that being said, we, as teachers, must also admit that we don’t get what it’s like to do other people’s jobs on a day-to-day basis either. I’m not here to preach the occupational supremacy of educators, shouting from the roof tops that we have the hardest job in the world and that other people’s jobs are pieces of cake with no stress attached. Not at all. But I am willing to exclaim that being a teacher is a gift. It is hard, and it is not for the faint of heart. We are underpaid and under appreciated. We work far beyond our contract hours and wear more hats than can be expressed on the “job description” line of any county school job posting. But if you have the gift, far better is it to put it to use as a service than to deny a God-given ability and chase after a lesser love. Whether you are a classroom teacher, a specialist, an educational psychologist, a principal, or any position between, you have an opportunity every day to be inspirational in your selflessness, and to labor knowing that it's hardly in vain.
Education is certainly not for people who want an “easy” program in college. I’m not sure about the rest of you fellow teachers out there, but my education program in college was anything but easy. I spent countless hours in the library, reading research, piecing together unit plans, and doing intern work for established teachers. I read all kinds of books, everything from Eric Carle to Piaget’s work. I built relationships with kids during my internships that I knew I’d probably never get to see again, and I poured my twenty year old heart into every project I completed to earn my license. No, teaching is not for people who want to spend their days coloring and making Popsicle stick crafts. It’s not for people who just want to spend their summers basking in the tropical sun. Teaching is for people who care about kids. People who care about the stability of our society in future generations, and people who passionately grab at any chance to make someone’s life a little brighter, if only for a year’s time.
Many of you know that I’m a young educator. I’ve just recently completed my 4th year teaching elementary school here in Virginia. Before moving to Northern Virginia, I taught in a Title I school in southwestern Virginia, with students in my class who received government housing, free and reduced lunches; students who dealt with severe emotional issues, and students who hardly had food enough at home to eat breakfast before coming to school. I also had students in that population for whom I had no working phone numbers to reach their parents. So, as you can imagine, those first few years were somewhat of a shock. But as with anything, I have learned and matured in the profession. I frequently look back on my first year and chuckle a little bit in regard to my “pedagogical prowess.” I went in thinking that I had the best ideas of anyone that had come before me or would come after me. I was going to set the world on fire with the teaching practices I learned and used as an intern and student teacher. Can I get an “Amen” to the fact that Day One of your actual teaching career is a bit like running full force into a glass door? I had so much zeal, everything was so clear, and then all of a sudden, I was laying flat on my back saying, "Umm... What just happened?!" In so many ways, it’s not what I expected back in my college classes or what I anticipated from under the wing of my cooperating teacher. For me, the scariest part was the sudden realization that I was the sole person responsible for imparting a year’s worth of state mandated knowledge, running parent-teacher conferences, collecting money, taking attendance, answering emails, analyzing data, creating tests… the list goes on and on. I don’t think I set the world on fire that year, but I may have metaphorically set my classroom on fire a few times…
Many of you also know that I now teach in one of the wealthiest counties in the country. Sure, it’s easier now for me to say all of this - my job is easy! Wrong. Every student comes to me ready to take SOLs in September. Wrong again. They’re all mature and need no further guidance than what they get at home and in their community groups. Still very wrong. Even kids who have everything they could ever want still deserve a high level of instruction, social and emotional guidance, compassion, empathy, and most of all, an educational advocate. No matter how a student functions or what his readiness level is, he needs a trained professional to get to know him, figure out his needs, and then devise a plan for how to best meet them. The beauty of teaching, though, I’ve found, is that we get to do all of that… and then we get to become his buddy. We ease into the role of someone our students trust to help them meet their goals and push them on toward a developing version of their best self.
So yes, I’m young and still relatively inexperienced, but I’ve seen two ends of the spectrum and my aforementioned beliefs have remained steadfast.
Each of the two schools I have worked in, the administrators I have worked for, and the teammates I have worked with, have been an undeniable blessing in my life, and that’s without mentioning my students. When you throw them into the mix, my cup overflows. Yes, sometimes with frustration, sometimes with stress, sometimes with creativity… But aside from all of the natural obstacles that stand in the way of a professional in the competitive free world, my cup overflows with love for people I work with and the kids in my care. Whether it’s in the form of excitement when a kid finally understands something, the swirling of butterflies when I assign a new project and the kids go crazy, or the rewarding satisfaction when a student comes to me with a self-produced painting of the Battle of the Ironclads… 4th grade Virginia History teachers, you know what I’m talking about ;)
Such a range of emotions we experience as educators. Any teacher who has worked with me can tell you that this post is me on a good day, and oh, are there rough days. But even on those days, the best things about my job are fighting to reach the surface. On the darkest, most frustrating day of our teaching career, we can look at those faces - the kids that need us - and remember why we answered the call. The signs are obvious. God calls us to serve, and as teachers, we have the opportunity day in and day out to seek the goodness in service even when it’s unclear. 2 Corinthians 12:9 tells us that His power is made perfect in our weakness. Fellow educators, we must persevere. If we can do that and rely on God’s power to love our kids, we wage war on anything that stands in our way. Everyday is a battle. But you see, my friends, teachers are warriors.
Happy rest and rejuvenation this summer, friends!
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