So I normally don't really talk about my work life in a blog, but really I feel like the world needs to hear what teachers are going through on a regular basis. So here I am, sharing my day , week, and school year with all the Steemians that care to read. For a beautiful 7.5 years I taught at an inner city high school. Great times, the kids learned and I was able to grow to be a great teacher. I left that position to be a educational coach, but that didn't work out which landed me back in the classroom teaching middle school. Anybody that knows middle school students knows that the majority of them are not very nice people to be around for long periods of time. Essentially that is why parents send them to me for school. Nonetheless, I am teaching middle school kids for the second year in a row. Seventh grade mathematics is not my best skill set, not the math (I'm mean honestly, I taught AP Calculus), the math is easy. But understanding how to show these young people how to do the math at a speed that they can handle is a struggle for me. They require so much attention and so much spoon feeding that I can't take it.
So I work at a charter school and we are college prep from day one. It means that I work two times harder than most teachers but don't get much more reward right now. I am hoping that one day I will see the fruit of my labor and these kids will be the next lawyers, doctors, congressman, teachers, and great leaders. I don't think that people truly understand how hard it is to teach a group of kids and only hope that one day all that you have poured into them comes to fruition.
I have learned 2 things from this year so far, 7th grade boys are absolutely disgusting and 7th grade girls are some of the meanest people on the planet. However, every now and then there is a diamond in the rougt. I have found a few amazing young people that make everyday worth waking up and going to work. See, I have MS and truly waking up each morning is a task. I fight my mind daily to push through the tired, love my sons and husband, teach my kids, and be the best me that I can be. I realize that I struggle in silence quite a bit and the reason is that I don't want to complain. There are people in this world much worse off than I am and I am grateful for all that God has blessed me to do and have. So I don't talk about the pains that I feel, or the fatigue that I experience on a daily basis.
I love teaching. I think that is also why I keep on pushing and giving my best. I am learning to love teaching 7th grade, but honestly it is a struggle. Most days I can think of at least 25 reasons why I should return to high school but something keeps pulling me back to these little people. I only want to inspire kids to love math and be great at it. I think I am doing that on some level now, but hope that it increases soon.