Today was my last day of actually teaching before Christmas. We still have exams, but that just entails handing them out, giving instructions, and waiting for them to be returned so I can grade!
I love teaching. I like my kids. I actually baked over 100 cookies tonight, just because I wanted to give them a treat for exams. But being a teacher unfortunately involves more than that. There's meetings and meetings, and, well, more meetings. Sometimes these can be helpful, other times it seems like a waste of time. It's always great to spend time with other "math minds." (If you are one, you'll understand, and if not, well, you probably think the whole lot of us math people are insane, so you probably think we should stick together.) We get along well because we understand each other and we value the importance of mathematics. But we're also people. Some days we all work great together, and sometimes not. I love my colleagues; I guess I should stop rambling and get to the point...
Today one of the other teachers I work with said to me, "I really appreciate you, as a teacher." That meant the WORLD to me. To be young and new, and have someone who has been there for a while and has experience tell me that I'm doing a good job and that he thinks I bring something to our department as an educator... that's unbelievable. It's difficult to be a first year teacher. I struggle to stay more than a day ahead of my kids (in planning, not in general content knowledge... I do understand the math!). I feel like there are days that go really great, and days that I could have done more. I could have had more prepared. I could have had better examples. I could have reviewed more. I could have better prepared them for this or that. I could have spent more time planning. All of that. There are days I feel like I didn't get through to anyone, or someone was left behind, or that maybe they just all hate me. But compliments like that encourage me. They were healing words to my soul. If you ever read this, THANK YOU. I doubt you will ever even stumble across this silly little blog, but if you do, I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out who I am and that I'm talking about you.
