What is "teaching"?

Teaching is not always about clean whiteboards and working projectors. It's not always about perfect lesson delivery or on the ball agendas. It's about the individual students who sit in front of you day in and day out. It's about that one student who has never missed a day of class and then one day, she's gone. No explanation, no notice... All you can do is wonder and pray... It's about that student who although he can be a pain in the butt, can make you smile in one sarcastic comment. It's about the everyday prep blocks and lunches spent consoling one student, feeding another one who forgot his lunch money, giving a makeup quiz to another student who was gone for a week due to a death in the family, while at the same time, trying to get your ELL students to get their work done. Again, all during lunch and prep!!! I'm not complaining, I'm explaining.
Teaching is about loving, understanding, and connecting with your students. Teaching is about getting to the heart of the student so that it can be opened and ready to be taught. It's about making that student feel like he or she belongs. It's about interrupting your lesson on conjugating verbs to explain why it's not OK to let rumors fester and why people should be up front and honest. It's about explaining why telling the truth about something IS NOT snitching. It's about clarifying doubts not just about conjugations, but about life in general. Ok! OK! I can already hear the "core class" teachers grunting and saying, "yeah, she can say that because she has no "standardized test" to adhere to." Guess what ladies and gentlemen, it can be done! I know a few teachers who have! Really! I'm not lying! The sad part is, that I know of many who don't. I am not one to listen to gossip or start it and that is not what this is about. This is about listening to our students, analyzing their words and making sense of how they feel. How do we expect to teach a student something when some of us can't even understand them?
This past week I was lucky enough to be able to participate and be a witness to many of the class of 2014 Senior activities. I was able to speak to my students in front of their parents and loved ones and let them know how much of a difference each and every one of them made in my life. From the one who could easily set me off on an ANGRY tangent to the one who had a solid 104 grade point average in my class, each one made an impression in my heart and in my life. I am a different teacher and person because of each and every one of them.  I know, I know, I say the same thing over and over and over again, but do you know why? Because it's important for me to express what teaching means to me.
Phew! There. I said it. I expressed my inner most thoughts on teaching. Yes, I love the content that I teach as it is my language and my culture, but I also love everything else that comes with teaching. The new friends, the LOL moments when a student makes a joke, or when I am so stretched to the limit that in the middle of a lecture or class I just start to either laugh or cry. Either way, my students are there to pick me up and push me forward. They laugh with me, cry with me, and, at times, will argue with me. But at all times I love and respect them and they return the favor.
So, to sum it all up, teaching is wearing your heart on your sleeve, carrying your emotions and theirs on your shoulders, and your zest for life and teaching in your heart.
 Thank you from one teacher AND parent to another. I thank you on behalf of the students who in some way have been touched by you and you by them. Much, love peace and happiness to those teachers who do it right!


Yours in education, love, and life,
Señora

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