Sometimes it easy to become overwhelmed by the aspects of teaching that I hate. With secondary and elementary education comes a lot “trials and tribulations.” They come in the form of parents, administrators, difficult students, the crushing amounts of paper work and ridiculous meetings.  However, if you can ignore those things, most days are pretty darn good.

At my job, I get to actually see people change sometimes over the course of just a few weeks. I get to work one on one with kids to help them become better writers. I get to talk about books that I absolutely love and show other people how to love them too.

I don’t do the same thing everyday or even all day long. While my feet hurt at the end of the day, it’s because I’ve gotten to move around; I am not a desk jockey or a cubicle monkey. Sure there are days when I’m envious of people that get to work from home, make lots of money, and get up when the sun is actually up, but overall it’s a pretty sweet gig.

When I first started teaching, I hated to teach writing. Literature seemed more fun. Now, I love teaching writing. Conferencing with the kids and showing each one ways to improve is great. While they don’t know I have a blog, I think it helps me understanding that writing can be really frustrating. Here is one of my favorite quotes of late:

“Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.” William Zinsser. On Writing Well, 12.

Thanks for allowing me to wax poetic about the joys of teaching. When I’m grading the next set of papers, or I have a parent trying to crucify me, please remind me of this post.