Today, I have a day off! Yes!! I slept in until 8:30 and I actually have time for a blog post! I still have unfinished USU homework and I had to bring home a second bag from school yesterday because all of the papers I am behind on grading wouldn't fit into my main bag. But, I have a day off!
On Sunday, my brother-in-law Ross said that kids in Utah get too many days off from school and that teachers have too much time off. Ummm . . . I don't know about that. I think we have the same 180 days as usual. I know that we start a week or too earlier than other areas of the country and maybe things just get spread out more. Maybe Ross is jealous because he's in a field that doesn't get days off. Maybe one of the huge reasons I chose the field I did was because I like to take days off! Your not going to ever hear me complain about my salary because, well, I only work 9 months out of the year and I can't really imagine a job where working during the summer was required. That's why some people are suited to some jobs and others are suited to other jobs. I appreciate that there are people like Ross you do the type of work he does and I appreciate that there are people like me who do the crazy work we do!
It's useless to argue, but it did get me thinking. I like teaching. I don't know if I "love" teaching. If there were a word somewhere between "like" and "love," that's how I would feel about teaching.
Occasionally there are moments that are very rewarding, too! It feels good when parents tell me their kid is doing better in math this year than they ever had. It feels good when kids tell me that my class is their favorite class. Now, I'm not trying to win any sort of popularity contest, but it does feel good. It also makes me feel good when a student walks away grumbling because, no, they can't turn that assignment in from 3 weeks ago. Sorry. Don't drop the ball next time.
Unfortunately, I can't say that I have amazingly high test scores, but I do tend to stay right in line with other teachers who are mean an ornery. Most of my students have learned that I will help them whenever. I don't have "office hours" and I don't have "contract time," which is probably why I'm the last teacher to leave in the math hall and I still have a separate bag of papers to grade on my day off. Oh well.
What got me thinking about all of this on the morning of my day off, was an e-mail I received just this morning. It is from a Tooele student. This particular kid had me for two years in a row and I don't think he passed a single term. He was so far behind on credits that I thought he had pretty much given up on any chance of graduating. He also told me (and our class) that he sabotaged teachers who he didn't like. He peed on Miss Twitchell's hall pass and he peed on Mrs Sneed's couch. As much as I expressed disapproval, I never had the heart to actually turn him in. Plus, he promised me that he hadn't done anything like that to me and if he did, he would tell me. He was a friendly kid with more knowledge about music and musicians than me and he had a lot of potential, but just didn't care about school all that much. I was totally surprised when I got this e-mail:
Hey, this is Eric M. ...I don't know if you remember me or not...well, honestly I'd be kinda of mad if you forgot about me!! Haha, no I'm just joking.I just was bored and was going through Tooele's faculty thing where they've got this whole like mini bio set up and it made me wonder what was going on with one of my favorite teachers!! Well, I'm graduated now Class of '09 and I don't know if you've heard about the new high school in Stansbury Park but a lot of teachers left for it and Ms. Twitchell left somewhere...no one really knows...but anyway I was just stopping by to see how you were doing how Murray is treatin' ya. I hope you haven't elaborated any stories to your students about my body fluids and hall pass vests and a certain teachers couch...lol. Hope that didn't ruin your day...maybe it made you laugh a little lol. Hope everything is going well. Sincerely, Eric
Of course I sent him an e-mail back telling him that I was proud of him for actually graduating and that I wondered what he was doing now to be productive. I'll keep the blog posted if I hear anything, but until that time, I would not recommend eating at the Pizza Hut in Tooele.
Yes, I may get a lot of days off, but it's worth it if you can make a small, positive impact on a kid's life! Plus, don't forget, even with the day off I have ALL those papers to grade and they are not going to grade themselves. The end.
Saturday was Governor's Review Day at Rice-Eccles Stadium. All of the Utah Army and Air National Guardsmen (and women) march into the stadium and line up to be saluted by Governor Herbert. I've been around James now for 4 Governor's Days and I have never attended one of these. Usually it has been because James doesn't like participating in it, tells me it is stupid, and that I shouldn't go. I thought it was pretty cool, though, and I think I'll make it a point to go every year.
