i've been really frustrated with my job for several months now. being a teacher is so hard...harder than you can know until you've done it. you don't just get to teach your favorite subject to a bunch of bright-eyed pupils. you have to deal with administration and how they think your classroom should be run. you have to deal with pushy parents who think they know how your classroom should be run. you have to deal with unmotivated students, students with special needs, gifted students, students with serious behavioral/emotional/mental health issues, students with bad attitudes, honor role students, rude students, and every other kind of student you can think of all at the same time. nothing can prepare you for that. and don't even get me started on the paperwork...
so, yeah. it's been rough.
you'd think after three years, it'd be a cake walk by now. but it's not. there's always something. all that frustration (coupled with my disappointment over our housing debacle) had me wishing i didn't have to even wake up today.
driving to work--running late as usual--i just said a little prayer in my heart. "please let today be good. let something be good."
and it was.
ALL of my art foundations students first and second period--as in every single one, even the ones who never do anything--worked on their assignments without me having to plead and prod and threaten. whoa.
then we had an assembly for spirit week--the spirit bowl, in which all classes compete in ridiculous spirit games. it's pretty much the only assembly that i actually enjoy. and for the first time ever in the history of the world, the competition wasn't rigged in favor of the seniors...and the FACULTY WON! crazy. and silly. and i liked it.
i thought my sculpture class would be all riled up after the assembly, but they got right to work and were all excited about it. many even declared my assignment fun. gasp! that NEVER happens. (never. i'm not exaggerating.)
and then after school one of the aforementioned sculpture students came in to talk to me about how much she loved my class and asked me all these questions about studying art in college and the pros and cons of being an art teacher. seriously? i've inspired your career choice?!
i gave it to her straight, explained what kind of classes she would need to take and told her all the hardships of being a teacher. (someone should warn her. haha.) and mentioned that there are a lot of art related careers out there, more than you'd think.
but i also told her all the good stuff, like getting to make art and talk about art and helping kids learn to make art and face challenges and maybe even find talents they didn't know they had or at least trying something they've never done. (little did she know that she was one of the good things right at that moment.)
all that in one day.
thank you. that was more than a good day.
it was a great one.
ah, Kacey. You are an amazing woman. You no doubt influence and inspire many students- some are just too shy/embarrassed/prideful/thoughtless/multitude-of-other-reasons to admit it.
ReplyDeleteYou know, when you were explaining about the prayer to offered asking for a good day, it reminded me of a time right before my mission. I was having a really hard time (in hindsight I can see it was the adversary working on me). I remember one Sunday going into the bathroom and just crying. And I also remember you approaching me that day and just asking how I was doing and letting me know you cared about me. It meant the world.
There. Case and point. You are an amazing woman! :)