My job as a teacher is rewarding, fulfilling and fun. My job is also incredibly frustrating when it comes to dealing with the not so pleasant aspects of it. In the last few semesters I have tried wholeheartedly to focus on the rewarding fulfilling and fun aspects of it and not so much the unpleasantries.
This week I struggled with explaining an event that I had witnessed that should have been met with disciplinary action toward a student. In reporting the incident I had the chance to look at the school's cameras in order to elaborate on what I witnessed. Imagine this: the incident I was reporting was in the camera's blind spot. Basically, that means it didn't happen. I haven't been that disappointed in quite some time.
Usually when things like this happen I want to blame someone and be angry. But not this time. Instead, I told myself that every day I go into work and do my very best to educate, guide and advise my students. I know that I act in the best interest of those kids when they are in my classroom and in our school. In a lot of ways I consider it my duty to go beyond the curriculum and provide students with real-life experiences and the support they need to face the challenges of adolescence. Does all of this sound like the hope of an idealist? Yes, absolutely. But sometimes I think there is too much negativity in the schools. Yes, I know we all feel overworked and underpaid and unappreciated, and so many days we go home frustrated and longing for a change of scenery.
At the end of the day, though, and at the end of this week I find myself strangely content with what I do. I have no regrets about the choices I've made or the advice I have dispensed, because my top priority is making the lives of my students better, at least while they are in my classroom.
If you're a teacher reading this, how are you feeling at the end of the day? The end of this week?
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