The Ten Best Things about Teaching

Teaching.  I have to comment here about my chosen profession.  Teaching is highly overrated, some veteran teachers argue, and perhaps there’s truth in that:  in all honesty, what do you get for grading thousands of papers and putting up with foul mouths and ants in their pants day after day, month after month and year after year?  You get a big, fat receipt for an ancient VW bug you bought off of “Sam’s Used Cars” parking lot because that was all you could afford.  Holes in your t-shirts because you bought the cheaper ones since they were ON SALE. A master’s degree covered in dust, useless, after you find out that a master’s degree in education doesn’t do you any good.  In fact, it may even keep you from getting a better teaching position because no one will hire you with five years of experience and an advanced degree. 

But…and here’s the redeeming part, for those teachers ready to quit their jobs and become taxi drivers:

We DO have moments when light bulbs go off and redemption is found.

We get to see students at their worst, but also at their best.

We get to see our students accomplish things we never thought possible.
We get to see ourselves accomplish things we never thought possible!

We get to help change the world, one person at a time.

We can truly appreciate 60 minutes of quiet prep time.

If we work it right, we can teach where our children attend school.

We DO get 2 months of vacation time.

We receive notes of appreciation throughout the years, and gifts at Christmas.       

We get LOTS of Starbucks gift cards!  (My poor husband doesn’t drink coffee—he bitterly passes these to me each time he receives one.)

We get tears and laughter galore— to know we are truly alive!

If we’re lucky, we get to stay in hundreds of kids’ minds and hearts for their entire lives.

Every day, I am thankful that I am a “mover and a shaker” in the best sense of the phrase…I get to walk into my classroom and discuss Antigone, Macbeth, and 1984 with the next Gandhi, or Martin Luther King Jr. or J.K. Rowling.

I have the privilege of encouraging students to think, to write, to wonder and to dream.

I get to laugh when students show a surprising talent at playing Atticus in a classroom production, or smile when they make connections between the lack of privacy online and Orwell’s Big Brother.

Yes, sometimes I wish I drove a BMW, or had a million dollars in the bank.  Who doesn’t?  But those days are few and far between. 

Most days I feel I’m living life more than most.  And my VW bug?  Well, I've found it does get excellent gas mileage.