Thursday, December 18, 2003

One more half day to go...

I got a Christmas card from a student today. It reads:

To my A+ Teacher and My most coolest Techer I have had some of my Superb! In your class have a happy Holiday
From: Isiah

I learned four things from this card:

1. Isiah maybe doesn't hate me after all.
2. I have been misspelling his name for four months.
3. We need to do a lot more grammar, spelling, and writing work.
4. They did learn how to use the colon!

I went out to breakfast, this morning, with the whole eighth grade department at my school. I learned a lot from just sitting and listening to their stories of how their year has been going. It is nice (and awful) to learn that it is not just me having a difficult time getting the kids to pass their tests and behave. Even the most veteran teachers are struggling. When I told some story of how I had reacted to some situation or another (I think I told them that I had let a sick child call home), all of the older teachers laughed and rolled their eyes. One of them said, "Oh, you still have empathy! That'll pass!"

It is pretty official in my mind that this is my first and last year teaching. I do still have empathy and I am not looking forward to the time when I don't. Some days I already don't. I really just know that teaching is not for me, and at 28-years-old I just don't feel like I have the time to spend two years doing something that is not for me. But I am holding steady for this year. And I will always have an overwhelming respect for career teachers. ¶ 10:24 AM