Teaching

I teach high school. It is the most wonderful job in the world as well as one of the most underpaid jobs in the world. It's really hard to describe what my days are like as a teacher, but I thought I'd share some highlights from the past 5 years of my life as a teacher. Most of those years have been spent teaching at-risk students in 2 different states.

I don't think most people have an idea of what it's really like to be a high school teacher. We've all been to high school, but it's usually such a miserable experience that we all forget about it very quickly. Plus, no one is really in their right mind in high school, so once you've straightened yourself out, you lose all sense of what that time in your life was really like. So, it's easy to forget. Plus, a teacher sees alot more than one student experiences.

Teaching is not a dull job. Here are a few of the stand-out situations in my 5 years of teaching. I had a girl come to me with a problem about her 'girl parts' that ended up being herpes (9th grader at the only 'rich' school I ever taught at). I've had to comfort a girl because her mother was having sex with her boyfriend. I had a gang member explain where he could buy any gun you could imagine a few blocks from our school, but then didn't know what an i-pod was. I've had many pregnant girls, and even a few who confided in me that they were considering an abortion. I had a student experience a miscarriage of twins. I had one young man who lost his mother in a terrible battle against breast cancer. I've had students who are in alcoholics or narcotics anonymous as well as students who had abusive, alcoholic or drug addicted parents. I've had a student who was told by another teacher that he would never graduate and just end up in jail - he proved that teacher very wrong.

This biggest challenge for me is to explain to these students why some stupid standardized test is important when they are dealing with these kinds of situations at home. But, law makers keep telling us that these wonderful tests are extremely important and the only way to gague learning (whole other post there . . .). So, I struggle and do my best.

I am more than a teacher to many of my students. For some, I am one of the only stable role models they have (as well as their other teachers). I am a counselor as well as a teacher. This is what I was meant to do. I always thought I was supposed to be a paleontologist, but I was wrong. I fiercely love my job, and could not imagine another job making me happier. It stresses me out, it makes me grind my teeth, it saddens me, it stretches me, but there is no greater joy than seeing my students proud and excited about their success.

I'll be bringing more stories as I remember them or they come up. If you want to know about anything, just let me know!