thoughts on teacherhood

Next to parents, teachers are the most influential people in children's lives.  We love, care, guide, and nurture.  We collect baby teeth, check foreheads for fevers, and can punch the little silver dots on top of juice boxes with one swift poke of the straw. We are used to being called Mom and Dad.  Teacherhood is knowing that softer voices are more effective than louder ones, that students read better under their desks, that kids will not hear the difference between than and then, and that children will always choose chocolate chip cookies before oatmeal and raisin.  Teacherhood is understanding that you should never try to teach anything on Halloween, that when kids start learning cursive they forget how to spell, that students who are usually quiet will become chatty the week before Christmas break, that desks swallow papers, that any given moment a child could announce something random like he's been to Denver and saw a banana slug, that the best lessons on paper can tank in real life, that children who are about to throw up get clingy, that reading nothing but comics is like eating nothing but pasta your whole life, and understanding that a child may forget what you taught her--but will always remember how you made her feel.  -Philip Done
School ended a week ago.  I love my job.  I love my students. I may or may not have cried when they left.  I think that your first year of teaching is like your first time out of the country, or meeting a life-long friend for the very first time.  You never forget any of it-- even the difficult stuff.  And mostly you just remember the good stuff.