This week (yes I know it is only Tuesday) has been a good one! I am in the middle of teaching a poetry unit to my 7th graders, and although I am not a fan of poetry, I find myself having fun. Maybe it's the kids, or maybe it's the poetry, but I think it is the kids AND the poetry! I love how easily music and poetry go together so I have been exploiting it as much as possible. The kids and I love using music any time we can, so that is the order for the week.
One of my 9th grades called me over to his desk on Monday by calling me "Teacher." Usually the kids address me as Mrs. G_________, so it hit me as odd that he called me Teacher. In the middle of class, I stopped and thanked him for paying me such a nice compliment. So often, being a teacher is a job title; but if this young man thinks that I am a Teacher, well that is just fab! I think of myself as a teacher in training in spite of my years of experience. Teaching is like being in a relationship, always changing, evolving. Not to mention that the complexity of the relationship as it includes about 70 students, their parents, and the rest of their lives! Every now and then I am struck how serious my job is. I find that it is so easy to turn a kid off to learning, and sometimes it is so hard to turn them (back) on to it.
An old friend once said that being a single mom "has been her greatest challenge and her greatest joy," and I would have to say that about teaching. It is so easy to think that you can't possibly make a difference, and I don't know if I do, but that is my hope. My favorite college professor once put it so perfectly: "If you aren't doing it for the kids, what are you doing it for?"
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