What No One Ever Told Me . . .

I don't talk a lot about my job. One reason is that I teach, and student information and experiences are confidential. But this year starts my ninth (wow, did I just say ninth?) year of teaching school. Some years have been more challenging than others, but when all comes down to it, I've realized that I've not only survived every single year of teaching (as is evidenced by this crazy blog), but I've also learned from every single student I've taught (how's that for a run-on sentence?). I'm not a perfect teacher, and I've made mistakes. I'm human, but I like to think that I've grown a lot from the naive 22 year old that started out in Pre-K a few (or more) years back. I've been mulling this post over in my mind for quite some time. It's not about any one class or any one student, but rather it's a conglomeration of what I've learned from teaching.

So without further ado, I present "What No One Ever Told Me" (a.k.a. "What I've Learned from Teaching") . . .

I spent four years in college. I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. I minored in Math and Reading. I spent numerous hours helping and practicing in various grade levels and classrooms. I took Child Development, Classroom Management, Child Literacy, Child Psych, Survey of Exceptionalities, Number Theory, and Evolution of Math to name a few. I passed my certification exams without any problems. When I graduated in May of 2003, I was ready to teach. I had all the job qualifications under my belt. I could create lesson plans with the best of them. How hard could it be to teach reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic?

That is a laughable question now. Teaching is the easy part. What no one ever told me was that I would become emotionally invested in every child that walked through my door, some more than others, but all to some extent. No one told me that Number Theory wasn't going to help much with a child who is heartbroken. No one told me that Child Development doesn't apply when a child is starved for attention. No told me that both laughter and tears were part of the deal. No one told me that four year olds don't know when they're about to vomit (my one and only year in Pre-K). No one told me that I'd deal with the most extraordinary kids you could ever imagine. No one told me that when it seemed the roughest, and when the stress was the most intense, I'd need to push just a little harder. No one told me that I'd marvel at what these kids can accomplish. No one told me that I would be a mentor, a counselor, a social director, a sometimes parent, and a teacher. Nope, no one told me any of that. I just thought I was signing up for reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

If I've learned anything over the last eight years, it's that that college degree that I worked so hard to earn was just the beginning of my learning experience. I'm in no way devaluing that degree. I busted my rear end to earn it, and minoring in Math almost killed me (no joke). But in the end, it was just a precursor to the real learning experience. I don't know where I'll be in eight years, but today, I know that no matter how challenging it may be, I'm where God wants me to be right now. I've learned that you can't hand out consequences without hugs, that a little understanding goes a long way, that compassion and empathy should be job qualifications for teachers, that test scores aren't the end-all and don't necessarily correlate with a child's future success (yep, I said it), that praying for my students goes a long way toward helping them, and finally, I've learned that I still have a heck of a lot left to learn.