When I was younger, I never really saw myself becoming a teacher. Yes, I was the girl who school came easy to and I helped anyone and everyone pass their classes, but it didn't dawn on me that the life I would be later living would be that of a teacher. As I became older, I soon found that my passion in life was helping people, which inevitably led to me teaching. So, many people ask me how or why I do it and also why for the money I get paid. Truth be told, I am that ridiculously optimistic teacher that believes I can change lives. Like my post, everyone has a purpose, I believe that my purpose was to be a somebody to a kid that has nobody.
My day starts at the alarm going off at 5:25 am, but me repeatedly hitting snooze until I finally realize if I wait any longer I'll be running out of the door and usually ends with me finally sitting down at approximately 8pm. My days are full of being up and moving around the room to help kids and also hours of grading that truthfully will never go away regardless of what I tell myself. They are long days, days that don't start at 8 and end at 5 like so many ignorant people believe. Sometimes my days don't end until I fall asleep with a pen in my hand and papers in my lap. I work weekends, holidays and even during the summer. I just don't get paid for it, but still so many people think that life as a teacher is easy and "you get so much time off".
Yet, now as I sit here on bed rest, while my health and whats going on is my first priority, I can't help but feel like I am letting my kids down. True, they are not my children, but in so many ways they are. In so many ways, I am all they have to count on, and now I'm not there. Truth be told I LOVE what I do. I love shaping lives and hearts that are just entering the world. I love that so many of my students come back and tell me they love me because in reality I love them even more. I think that's what the life of a teacher is really about. It's not about the summers off or holidays throughout the year. It's more about showing someone that doesn't see it in themselves that THEY are amazing. THEY are going to become everything that their hearts want them to become. Without me being there, I know that some of my kids would never be able to feel that way if they didn't walk into my classroom. Without a teacher that wants to touch the lives of their students, so many would never truly chase the dreams they have inside of themselves.
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