Day One. And a few that followed.

I am a teacher.  I am now regularly referred to as “Ms. S” or “Señorita”, or some other nickname depending on how creative (or frustrated) my students are.  My first two thoughts about my first week of school are: This is really hard. And I love it.

Let me set the record straight.  Teaching is REALLY hard.  Overnight, I became responsible for 136 young men.  For 8 hours a day, my job is to keep 136 people awake, safe, engaged, learning, active, excited, and participating.  My job is to hold my ground each and every day and maintain high expectations as students would prefer to talk over me or throw a paper ball at me.  I have been told a hundred times how hard this would be, but goodness gracious, it really is incredibly tiring.

Secondly, despite how much my feet hurt when I come home, how little sleep I get (and I’m only a week in!), and how crazy I think I am, I still love it.  I cannot imagine myself doing anything else in the world other than teaching.  This might be the hardest thing I have ever taken on, but I don’t regret it now, and I don’t think I ever will.  Some kids know exactly what they want to do “when they grow up”.  It may have taken me a little longer to make that decision, but I am confident that I was made to be a teacher.  I was made to teach 136 students the joy of learning another language.  I was made to see 136 faces every day, some more eager than others, some more hurt than others.  I was made to have my heart broken by 136 stories of life in this big city.  This year is certainly going to be an adventure.  And as tired as I am after week one, I am incredibly excited to see what this year will have in store for me.

Lastly, if you are interested in more about what I (and thousands of other teachers) do, take a look at this video. Please excuse the language, but I think it puts things into perspective rather nicely: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU.