10. I love to learn new things. When you're a teacher, you are constantly being taught--by other teachers, district personnel, administrators--and by your students. There aren't a lot of other professions who have the same amount of training built into schedules the way teaching does and staff development is a great way to learn about best practices in teaching. I also learn a lot from talking to students and hearing their perspectives. They are the ones who can really make us stop and think!
9. We have lots of technology! I would not have been exposed to many of the programs, apps, and devices I am able to use in my classroom if I were working in a different field. I have never heard my husband or anyone else come home from working in an office and say things like, "I learned about several really cool websites today where you can make cartoons!" Sure, other people know about these things and use them but we are constantly trying to find new ways to engage our students and sharing these ideas with each other. I also probably wouldn't have an iPad and 3 iPods at my disposal if I wasn't a teacher. I have an arsenal of technology!
8. I love to read! One of my very favorite activities is reading and I especially love to do read-alouds with elementary children. I like to do character voices and use a ton of expression. They love it and you can see the excitement and pure joy on their faces. I also love to read more difficult texts and discuss them with older children because they always have a different view than I do and it's really neat to hear how they interpret different books. If you ever have the opportunity to do a book study with the novel Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, take advantage of that opportunity--and invite me! I recommend it for 5th grade and above, but read it yourself first. I did an Inquiry Circle Project with my very high 5th graders last year using that novel. Best. Book. Study. EVER.
7) I love numbers! When I was in school I felt like I was not very good at math. I always got A's in class and did well on tests, etc. but I didn't feel like I knew why I was doing what I was doing. Now that I have taught math at a few different grade-levels, I understand it more and I feel more confident. I hope to pass this on to my students. It isn't enough to teach them to do an algorithm or to follow a pattern, we have to teach them the why and the reasoning behind it. That's the only way they are ever going to be confident with numbers. Now, one of the best parts of teaching is having a student explain to me why they did what they did with a math problem.
6)School supplies are awesome! There's still nothing quite like coloring with a new box of crayons. The smell, the sharpness, the vibrant color--it's beautiful! I love everything about school supplies. Bury me in a pile of post-its! I love to organize school supplies, I love to buy them, I love to see what's new. Who else gets to sort through 50 packs of highlighters at least once a year? Just teachers.
5) I love passing out ketchup! Okay--not really. But I do like lunch duty. I know, it sounds crazy, doesn't it? After years of being splattered with milk, sauce, and various other liquids, you'd think I hate it but I love the freedom that lunch brings. (Freedom with parameters, mind you!) I love to talk to the kids about non-academic topics and hearing them talk to each other in their own common language. I always learn new thing at lunch--what's cool, what isn't, what kids think about different things. Even though I have been called the Lunch Room Nazi more than once and I spend a great amount of time enforcing rules, I still like to hear what the kids have to say when they can say (almost) anything they want to.
4) Hugs are the greatest! I work in an elementary school and if you've spent any time in an elementary school at all, you know that you'll be hugged--for sure--at least 10 times every hour. And that's awesome. Knowing a kid cares enough about you to jump out of line, run across the hallway, risk getting yelled at by their teacher, means a lot.
3) I love it when a plan comes together. Sorry--child of the '80's. But I do love it when I've poured over a lesson plan, put everything I've got into it, presented it to the class, and it's a hit. When the kids actually get what you wanted them to get out of a lesson, that's am amazing feeling!
2) I'm changing lives. Some of the students that I have had the opportunity to work with feel as if no one, or very few people care about them. I'm here to show them they are important, that they are loved and that they mean something to me. I'm also teaching them skills that they will need for the rest of their lives. There are some subjects or materials that students may not always retain, but when you're teaching someone how to read, that is going to stick with them forever.
1) I'm touching the future. Regardless of what happens with our economy, what kinds of jobs our students will have, all of them are always going to need to know how to read. But that's not all I'm teaching them. I'm also teaching them responsibility, respect, kindness, thoughtfulness, teamwork, dependability--traits that everyone has to have in order to be a productive member of society. I have worked in other professions where I knew what I was doing was not that important but as a teacher, everything I go is important. Whether I make a good decision and help a child or I make a mistake and do something I need to correct, a child is impacted and that can change a future. Being a teacher is powerful! We remember the great ones and the terrible ones, but not the mediocre ones so much. I want to be remembered and I want it to be for the right reasons because if they remember that I taught them something important, then they'll be better people. That's the true beauty of our profession.
What do you love about teaching?
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