Be That Light

Whoa, it's been awhile since an update. Have I mentioned that being a teacher sucks away all your time once August hits, and when you do have free time, you use it to come up with cute little things for your classroom that you could put off until you HAD free time? That's the life of a teacher, and it can be very rewarding.

One thing I've noticed - and this is a shout out to all teachers out there - is that attitudes start to change around the beginning of October - about a month after school starts. In September, we all head in with these huge, honest smiles stretched across our face as we meet the bubbly littles that inhabit our room seven hours a day. As the month rolls on, I've noticed these smiles sometimes becoming less honest and more plastered. I find that we stop visiting each other, stop celebrating the wins, and laughing about the "REAALLY?" moments that happen in our day. We become wrapped up in the things that start to bring our attitudes down: stress, kiddos that need extra work, extra work that we need, extra work that is required of us...and we start forgetting about staying strong and happy.

Teachers - my friends, my coworkers, you strangers out there.
Do. Not. Forget. That you are important. Not only to the littles that mess up your room, but to the adults you work with. You are what helps me proceed every day. You are who inspires me. You are as important in shaping my life as you are in shaping your students. Because what you do, what you say, what you believe, what you provide, will always impact me, good and bad.

Do. Not. Forget. That you need to keep yourself happy too. Find a way to de-stress. I run. I knit. I sew. I zone in front of the television while eating a pound of chocolate. But one way that I've found helps me de-stress in the work place is visiting other staff. It could be talking about our personal lives, venting about our school lives, bouncing ideas off each other...either way, that personal interaction is so important.

So don't stop. Don't let that smile become fake. If it does, you'll never  make it out alive. Look for the GOOD in your classroom on those days when everything seems to be going wrong. Because, at the end of the day, the most important thing isn't that Susie didn't know how to add, but that she got to spend time with you, she feels safe and loved, and you fostered a desire for learning. Susie may not know how to add mentally until 5th grade, but you will always provide a step in her learning.

Smile. Smile through it all. Be that light in a child's darkness. Be that light.