Teaching is hard.

It's really, honestly hard. It's time consuming. I wake up at 5, plan, get to school by 8, teach until 3:15, plan until 5, come home, eat dinner, and then plan again until 9:30 or 10 and do it all again the next day.

It's not just the time commitment that is hard, though. It's the caring. I care so much about those students. I want them to achieve their full potential, so I'm going to do everything I can to get them there. It's emotionally draining, really.

So it bothers me when people who are not involved in education want to have great debates. I love these quotes I found in the Readers' Digest...

"If we teach small children, don't tell us that our jobs are "so cute" and that you wish you could glue and color all day long."

"We take on the role of Mother, Father, psychologist, friend, and adviser every day. Plus, we're watching for learning disabilities, issues at home, peer pressure, drug abuse, and bullying."

Yeah, there's a lot to think about. So don't argue with me about No Child Left Behind, because I see the repercussions (good and bad) of that act reflected in the eyes of my students every single day.

I don't know everything about education--I'm definitely a rookie teacher--but I know enough and I care a lot. So let's stick to our respective areas of expertise!

Yes. Teaching is hard. But I honestly, truly love it!

EB

So I have this friend. Shocking, I know. I tell him everything, I'm sure more than he would like to hear. And somehow he always knows exactly what to say in response! The best thing is that with one sentence he can both censure and inspire me. How does he do it? Does it have anything to do with the fact that he is British?

Plus, he has nicknamed me Natkat. Does it really get any better than that?

In all seriousness, I am very grateful for a friend who doesn't beat around the bush! There is one piece of advice I try to take daily: "Chill the heck out...twice!"

Halloween...

I loved spending it with my students. Loved the costumes (we had four angry birds, some baseball players, princesses, those creepy people in black robes, and zombies, to name a few), loved seeing their excitement, loved having some mothers come in a put on a little party for the kids...

...didn't necessarily love how crazy the day was. The kids were so excited and happy and it was great, but it was hard to get them to focus.

That's okay, though! They're only 10. I think it's okay for them to have a day at school where their main purpose is to be with people who care about them and have fun.

It was hard for me to get used to that idea, but I did love spending time with my students in a setting other than a math lesson or test or something.

Oh plus, someone brought in a class pet for us on Halloween. Yes, three jumping spiders and a wasp (the wasp was for the spiders to eat). Aren't we lucky??

They're actually pretty cool to look at.