To be a teacher

Compared to my previous three years as an upper elementary teacher, there was definitely something very different about this year. You'd think with 9 students, life would be a breeze, but surprisingly this year challenged me more than any of my others. With my small group of students, I often felt more of a mother than a teacher. Pencils and homework were thrown out windows, and they picked on each other in ways that only siblings could, knowing exactly what to say to get on the each other's nerves.

The first week was very exhausting and I think I went to bed before 8 most of the nights, dead on my feet and wondering how I would ever get through the year. Well, as the year is beginning to come to a close, I'm beginning to wonder how I'll say goodbye to these kids. 

I had a dream that it was June 18 and I was already home for the summer at my house in Michigan. It was relaxing and rejuvenating and yet I felt uncomfortable with the fact that I couldn't remember how the year ended. I didn't remember how finals went or how the final goodbyes were said and it made me sad that I couldn't remember the end of the year. When I woke up in my own bed in Jarabacoa, the first thing I felt was relief. Relief that I had the chance to finish the last three weeks with these students and send them off into the big world of fifth graders.

As teachers, there are so many hoops we need to jump through. So many grades to note, lessons to plan and behavior to manage. It's so easy to caught up in the daily struggles and grind of the school week and not realize that the things that take up the most time, are not really the most important things. With the influx technology, the passing on of knowledge and giving grades is becoming more and more arbitrary and it is no longer the most important thing teachers can do. I think the most important job  is to be able to look at a student and say, "I see you...I see your potential, now let's help you become all that you can be." 

It is our jobs are teachers, not to be the flame for the students, not to teach them to rely on us, but to ignite the flame for themselves. I had a parent once tell me that anyone could be a teacher, you just have to find worksheets online, print them out and pass them out. But he as well as other people are completely missing the point. Learning isn't about memorizing a teacher's words or phrases and spitting them back out on a worksheet. Anyone can do that, that's easy, but that's not teaching. Teaching is about truly seeing your students for who they are and teaching them the value of hard work, creating their own perspectives and inspiring a love of knowledge within them.  Teaching them how to get along with others, practicing how to respond when they're feeling overwhelmed or anxious, and learning how to be proud of a job well done. I have given a worksheet on occasion to just supplement a lesson taught or a skill learned, but a worksheet passer outer would be a sorry excuse for what it truly means to be a teacher.