reasons i love teaching

- because children GLOW when I praise them, encourage them, listen to them
- because children trust me with their stories
- because when I am excited, they get excited
- because it puts me in my place
- because I learn something everyday
- because I can fill a room with laughter, fear, or inspiration
- because there are 30 of them in one room, and one me, and I like that challenge
- because I get to experience hormone-induced power surges, and very few experience so many at one time
- because I can brighten someone's day by giving them a new seat, letting them read on the floor instead of at their desk, or simply by giving them a sucker for a job well done
- because I can endure the most boring, monotonous stories with a smile on my face and expressions that make the student/talker feel like they are telling an award winning story
- because I can be goofy and can enjoy their goofiness too
- because I have very few other things in life that I am THIS passionate about
- because I truly like my students...all of them...but I don't have to love them
- because simply by having extra pencils on my desk I can make a forgetful student appreciate and a student who can't afford school supplies blend in
- because I can teach a child the skills necessary to THINK for the rest of their lives
- because I don't ever give up on my students, and they can tell
- because I can make a phone call at supper time that can cause a grounding or a reward
- because I have learned that discipline is rarely necessary when a classroom is well-MANAGED
- because middle schoolers don't quite know who they are, or what they are capable of becoming, but they still believe they can change the world
- because I get to go to work every day and work on a "who" not a "something" or a "what"
- because I can be in his corner when his dad keeps saying to him, "Why can't you be this...why can't you be that...what can't you do more...better...why can't you be..." and I can look his father, a man at least 15 years older than myself, square in the face and say, "Let me tell you what your son is...what he's the best at in my class... and that I am in his corner..."
- because I will always have them, and they will always have me
- because on days when I think, "Are they really getting anything?!" a special-ed student of mine writes that the "lightening ATE THE SKY" or that the "LUMINOUS WIND TICKLED her face"
- because I am reminded how hard it is to be a teenager on a daily basis; and I am reminded of how little I truly know by their know-it-all attitudes
- because I have learned that the ones that are hardest to love, need love the most
- because seeing it "stick" is worth the extra hour after school
- because my patience is tested daily
- because a new air freshener is a very big deal
- because we can all pretend to love our "grammar-o-fun!"
- because I see a group of misfits become a family over a 9 month period, and realize that they have let me be a part of that family too
- because writing a real, thoughtful note on a student's piece of writing, or in their journal, or on a sticky note is something they may keep forever
- because I have learned that fair doesn't mean the same thing for everyone
- because I get notes that say things like, "Your the best teacher I've ever had," or "Your my true role model," and I've learned to look past the wrong form of "YOU'RE" and accept the compliment
- because everyday I can work to become the kind of person my students think I already am

- and because I could sit here at my computer for 5 more hours and write a million more reasons