A lot of the time, it is tough being a teacher. I generally lean toward seeing the negatives more easily than the positives and I worry a lot, so the bothersome or cruel things that students say and do often stand out to me more and have a bigger impact than the kind or awesome things that I see every once in a while. But today, a student said something that made all those negative things (and all the stress of my first year last year) worth it.
I brought my Thesis (well, technically my "Research Question," but trust me, they are basically the same) to school with me because I was going to drive to my college and hand it in to my advisor right after school. Also I wanted to show that 31-page, 29-source bad boy to my students so they'd understand why I am not very sympathetic when they complain about writing 3-page essays and having to use MLA format.
When I showed one class, the kids started asking about my Master's degree, since I told them I'd be graduating next week. They wanted to know if I'd make more money with that degree. I said yes, a little more. They also wanted to know if I wanted to teach college and if that was why I was getting the higher degree. I said that I had thought about that some and might in the future someday, but that I really just wanted to get the Master's for myself, and that I preferred teaching high school to my time as a graduate assistant because I got to make relationships with the students.
To this, one of the girls said, "Well, you at least have to stay here until I graduate. That's just two more years. You can't leave before then."
I told them I could probably last at least that long. ;)
This comment really made my day. I can remember last year when one of my favorite teachers from my own time in high school was retiring. Several students tried to persuade him to stay by saying, "Just stay a couple more years until I graduate! I want to have you as a teacher again." All last year, perhaps because it was my first year and I was extra self-conscious, and perhaps because I was not as good then at dealing with unwanted behaviors of students, I felt that probably more of my students would rather have had me leave than stay. This year, things are much better, but it is still rare for students to say aloud things like this that clearly mean: "I like you. I want to be taught by you." Even though I'd like to imagine myself as tough, caring more about effectively imparting knowledge to students than whether or not they like me, I realize that students respect teachers more if they like them, and are much more willing to learn from them. Not every student will like me, and I know that types of students come in waves and I will probably have tough years in the future. However, it is nice to know that at least some of my students appreciate me as a person and a teacher.
Oh, that same student, upon hearing that the topic of my Thesis was dystopian fiction, wanted to read it. She loves books like Divergent and I mentioned that I wrote about books that had come before that one - classic dystopias like 1984. She insisted she was sincere in wanting a copy, so I printed one for her and she seemed really excited to read it. I asked her not to judge me if it was boring to her, but secretly I hope she'll like it and maybe even decide to try reading one of the novels that forged the way for modern dystopias like those by Veronica Roth.
