There's the grading, the long hours, the lack of windows, the bosses, the students, the pay, the whatever. Teaching is a job that doesn't run seven to three, so there are a lot of late nights and long weekends.
The flip side, however, is that I get to teach some pretty amazing young people who make my job absolutely worth doing day in and day out.
Whenever I'm feeling down about my job, whenever I'm at my wit's end thinking that I'm accomplishing absolutely nothing as I see a half dozen students go through the motions of coming to class and failing their fourth consecutive quarter of honors chemistry, I think back to some of the meaningful moments that I've shared with my students that have kept me going...
...Robert Samaniego (2011 grad) stopping by school last week to thank me for writing a recommendation that helped him get a scholarship for this, his freshman year...
...Kelly Tsai bringing in a birthday cake for me while she and her fellow students took a practice AP test on a Saturday morning...
...Lizzie Kowal complimenting me for always getting their tests back quickly, far more quickly than her other teachers...
...my rec basketball team giving me a card and a gift card as thanks for 'coaching' them this year...each girl having written a note about how much fun they had this year and asking me to come back next year...
...Kate Hagen writing me the most wonderful thank you letter upon her graduation telling me that she knew she'd found home when she heard Meryn Cadel's 'The Sweater' on her first visit to my classroom...
...CJ (I don't even remember CJ's last name, I'm embarrassed to say) hugging the heck out of me just before he stepped on stage to receive his hard-earned diploma...
...Grace, Kate, Kevin, Joey, Matt, Nick, and the rest of the gang occasionally joining me and Calen at The Pub for trivia Mondays...
...Dan Finger telling The Girl that I really did a lot of great stuff for Princeton when she introduced herself to him...not that I was a great teacher but that I did a lot of great stuff for Princeton...
...countless students emailing me over the years thanking me for what and how I taught them because their college chemistry prof wasn't doing half as good a job...
...countless more emailing and asking me where that reference sheet was on my website because they remembered it from two years before...
...Ben Young smiling at me every time I see him - at Cornhole 4A Cause, at a Reds game, anywhere...
From time to time, teachers make jokes about how much easier our job would be if it weren't for those pesky kids, if we just had a little more free time to clean our desks or catch up on the grading, if they would just stop asking questions, if their parents would just stop pestering us all the time.
It's not true.
If it weren't for the students, this job would be unthinkably horrible.
They make the job worth doing.
Thanks, folks...I don't say it often enough.
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