Why I teach

Good thought to end the week on.

The life of a supply teacher is not well suited for a night owl. Some days I know beforehand that I’m working so I make sure to go to bed early. However, twice this week I got the call 30 minutes before the start of school. This gave me 5 minutes to get ready, 20 to catch the bus and 5 minutes to prepare my lesson plans for the day. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful each day that I work.

I’m thankful for:

• happy, captivated faces
• hands shooting up to answer a question
• acrostic poems
• crazy monkey stickers
• “The west wind blows…”
• learning bit by bit what motivates kids, what builds trust, what makes kids laugh and of course what I’ll never do again
• being given a chance to pass on my love for reading and ideas
• being able to play soothing jazz music as my students work at their desks
• scavenger hunts
• storytime and Robert Munch
• dictionary races
• smiling all day
• the day flying by

Things that are hard:

• teaching 2nd graders double digit subtraction
• teaching a grade 2/3 French immersion class for two days when the only things I can say in French are “bon jour”, “je t’aime” and “formage”
• not laughing when the fifth grade girls talk about boys
• 3:00 pm and erasing my name from the chalkboard

Quote of the day:
"Enjoy this while you can. Sure, parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be kid. Maybe you should start now."
~ Rules Kids Won't Learn in School