“The clause that makes the Constitution the highest form of law is…”
Duh. Obviously. It’s Santa Claus. Option D on the test I gave just last week. (Dear Lord, I thought that was an obvious INCORRECT answer.) As it happens, not just ONE of my students chose D…. TWO of my students chose D. Santa Claus… as the answer… to the question. (Proof is below. It really happened. TWICE.)
It’s the Supremacy Clause, for those of you who are wondering the REAL answer.
It’s moments like that which make me question every life choice that brought me here today. I am a teacher. Not just any teacher, mind you. I am a junior high American history teacher, and THAT, my friend, is my superpower. Until Thanos snaps his fingers and turns me into a pile of dust with the answer to such a question and reminds that I am just a mere mortal. Sigh.
But, you know what? Despite wanting to slap myself in the face or even crying when my students think that the Declaration of Independence was signed on January 1st, I take great joy in my job. Truly.
Teaching was not my first choice of career. My 18-year-old self was convinced I was going to be a high school counselor and save all the kids I could from lives of terrible choices. I spent thousands of dollars on an education in counseling psychology so that I could just that. Four short years later, as I finished up my student practicum, I realized that I did not, in fact, want to be a counselor. The counselor gets stuck with testing, and IEPs, and state-mandated reports, and all the icky administrative ‘stuff.’ I wanted to change the trajectory of kids’ lives for goodness’ sake!
So, while I had a great job in banking making more money than I do even today with a Masters Degree, I pursued alternative certification to become a history teacher. Gasp! Alternatively certified!?! Yes!
To some that translates as: “Does not have a degree in education and is therefore unqualified.” Yet, in truth, it translates as: “Yes, I have a degree in something else, but that something else isn’t my passion, and I want to be a teacher despite the fact that I could do something else.*”
*And make more money DOING something else, but tttbbbtttt, I don’t wanna!
I like being a teacher. Sure, there are days that a glass of merlot and a nap sounds like a lifesaver at 1:35 p.m., but then in walks some kid whose smile is a ray of sunshine and asks with a genuine heart, “Hi, Mrs. Dyson! How are you?” The truth to her sweet question is, “I’m losing my mind!” but instead, I smile back and tell her, “Good! But how are YOU doing?”
Or the kid who walks in crying because someone at home doesn’t love her enough, and she knows just where to find a hug and some encouragement that someone cares.
Because these kids are the best part of my job. Even the Santa Claus kid. I mean, kidS because there were two. I tried to forget.
And I’m tired of the on-going conversation about how teachers aren’t paid enough, and we deal with hard things in life. You know what? Life is hard. We all know that we don’t get paid enough because there’s no amount of money in the world to pay someone to be an
educator/ nurse/ parent/ secretary/ life-coach/ entertainer/ therapist/
cook/ janitor/ assistant/ mentor/ incessant tie-er of shoes
all in one to THAT many kids, none of whom we birthed. Yet we choose every day to come in here and do it again. And again. And again.
If the most exciting thing about being a teacher is waiting for whenever the next break from school is, then you probably don’t need to be a teacher. Yup. I said it. Maybe it sounds judgy or whatever. But before you get your panties all tied up, maybe, just maybe, if it strikes a nerve with you (the teacher who just wants the bell to ring more quickly at 3:15 p.m. every single day) I encourage you to go work somewhere else.
You have a degree. Maybe it’s even in education, lah dee dah. But just as my degree isn’t in my field of contentment, that won’t stop you from finding yours either. Get out there. It’s a big world. And kids already have enough of people who don’t want to be around them. Don’t just be another in the stack of them.
Okay- stepping off that soapbox.
Choose something else to do with it that makes you happy. Life is far too short to look forward to the end of the workday…. EVERY day. Don’t get me wrong; we all have THOSE days when it doesn’t end soon enough. (Ask any teacher who survived last Friday after Halloween.) But if it’s EVERY DAY, then you need to reevaluate.
And I say this as someone who after spending tens of thousands of dollars on the wrong thing, I too had to reevaluate. When I sat in front of those scary beings who are members of the State Department of Education that had the power to determine if my lack of an ‘appropriate degree’ would prevent my following my dream, they asked, “Why in this world where teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, and undervalued would you ever want to be a teacher?”
Because I love teenagers, and I truly want to make a positive impact on their lives.
And that is exactly why I come to school every day. I’m sure as heck not perfect at it, and of course, there are those kids who make it tougher than others, but at the beginning of my day, they are who I come to see.
Even if Santa Claus signed the Declaration of Independence on January 1st, I love my kids.
And there’s this too. Sadly.
Magnolias and Coffee 