“I can’t wait for Friday!”, “This kid in my class is so frustrating!”, “I don’t feel that parents appreciate all that I do.”, “how many days until summer vacation?”,”I’m not allowed to do that at my school.”
Many of us (me included) are guilty of spouting off the above negative quotes. Teaching is a hard job. We have long hours and there is a constant need for patience and flexibility. It’s hard! I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes I need to remind myself as to why I got into teaching and focus on the positives. Last week we had a dance party in my class just because we wanted to… and then we did a flash mob in the class next door. I know that we weren’t covering the curriculum, but it made it easier to cover the curriculum later that day. I laugh when the kids say funny things and we all laugh together. On Wednesday I am throwing down a lip sync battle for the last half hour of the day, because kids can be creative and do spectacular things when you let them be kids. (We can call it music class, right?)
The reason I got into teaching is because of the kids. Yes, I love to meticulously organize (and colour code) things. Yes, I enjoy creating cool and engaging lesson. Yes, I like the smell of fresh school supplies. But the reason I love teaching has nothing to do with that. The reason I love teaching is because I think kids are awesome!
Tomorrow, remind yourself of why kids are awesome! Do something fun that allows them to see that “sharpening the saw ” is just as important as reading and writing. Show them that you are human and you want them to be too. Remind yourself why you love teaching.
Please comment below and tell me what you did!