Seven Reasons Why We Are Educators: Reason 5- Why We Love and Hate What We Do. (269)

I have been running all my life. Making my way towards and away. Towards the classroom, being within one most of my life- whether in school, college or as an educator. Sometimes a class is just amazing- a great teacher, engaged classmates, curriculum of interest. Those are memorable and integral to who I am. They shaped me.

But I have been in even more horrible classes than good. These unfortunately have also been memorable, integral to who I am as a learner, and they have shaped me probably even more. I guess it all came down to whether they were love or hate days. Whether the teacher was enthralled or disheartened with their profession at the time.

They were teachers who gave up on the marathon long before, and were phoning it in. Walking through the motions, of acquisition, of a paycheck. These are teachers beaten down by an unsupportive administration or simply exhausted at giving their all and getting nothing in return.

We have all felt this way at some point in our careers. But we had someone, at least one person who lit the spark from which we lit our own. They reignited our reason.

You feel it when you enter the room for the first time. Either teachers are at the door eagerly awaiting your presence, or behind their desks, with a quick hello, reading a paper, or ignoring entering students entirely.

We all have that image of 80’s movies teachers, complacent, despondent and even rude. We have met them.

So why do teachers have a love hate relationship with their profession?

Its hard. It can be unforgiving, judgmental, and brutal. We can go days without any support or words of encouragement- and we deserve it. We are on our feet all day- engaging, assisting, buttressing, and reinforcing. We are often tired, achy, and hungry. And we have to go to the bathroom and have to hold it for thirty minutes.

The pressure builds, expectations heighten and our value, as sad as it sounds- gets weakened. We feel kicked aside. But we climb back on the path and keep going despite of it. So, we can get fed up and crestfallen. So yes, some days we hate our circumstances. Not our students. Just our predicament.

But we turn around and observe, listen, engage with our students and all is forgiven. We love what we do because we get to see our little impacts daily. We get to hear the shuffling of feet as the come down the hall, hear the giggles and anticipation in their voices.

We get to know these beautiful humans on a level no one else does- because we are their teacher and that is role unique.