That made me feel all warm & fuzzy!
When I enrolled in college I had decided on teaching, then I changed my to criminal justice. For six years I lived, breathed, ate, slept the justice system. Then I got a chance to work with kids and realized that it was what my heart wanted. Teaching isn't for everyone. I hear people say all the time "I don't have patience for kids" or "I couldn't spend all day in a classroom with students". But I can. It comes naturally. One doesn't teach for money- there's no money in it. So if you're looking to get rich- don't teach! There's something buried inside every teacher that makes them stay up to midnight grading papers. That same thing makes them want to pull their hair out because they've taught little Billy eight different ways and he still doesn't 'get it'. It's that same thing that you see in that teacher's eye at the end of the school year when it finally clicks in Billy. Its' that same thing that those 67's they were inputting in the computer turn into 80's and 90's. That same thing that years later Billy comes back and shows that teacher a picture of his family and tells the teacher because of her he didn't give up.
There's no price tag for that.
None.
I have spent a ton of money on students and I will continue doing it. For those 8 hours your child is in school, they belong to that teacher. You rarely hear a teacher say "my students", it's normally "my children".
It took me a little over six years to hear that little voice inside of me whispering "you were born to teach". Don't get me wrong, I love criminal justice, I still read my law books "for fun". I love shows like Law & Order. But at the end of the day nothing makes my heart feel like it does when I see a frown on a student's face turn into a smile. That first year working part-time at a school a little girl was sitting next to me and said "Ms. McCurdy I really like you a lot, I wish you were my real teacher. You should be a teacher." I smiled at her and thought "I should, shouldn't I?"
