The Best and the Worst

I spend nearly every hour concerned with my students.

I spend over 6 hours with them during school, every day of the week.

I stay after school helping them with assignments and letting them catch up.

I spend hours grading.

I spend hours and hours planning units, weeks, lesson plans, and activities.

I am so anxious about how lessons will go, I even wake up dreaming I'm in the middle of teaching a class that is not going well at all.

These kids are my life.

I pour all of my time and energy into trying to help them learn.

If I see blank faces, I call on students to pull their attention back in. 

I come home from work exhausted, starving, and sore in my feet and shoulders from standing and teaching all day.

What more can I do?

What more can I do when I put so much time, sweat, stress, and thought into these lessons? And what can I do when I pour every bit of energy I can muster off 6 hours of sleep into teaching?

What more can I do to satisfy the student who told me today how "monotone, boring, and repetitive" I am?

:(

I guess I just have to consider the student who likes me enough to keep trying to message me on Facebook. And who asks me to be in pictures like this:


Comments

c.c. said…
i know you know this, but i'm going to say it again to try to help you believe it more: you can't, won't, never will make everybody happy. don't even make that your goal.

you can make Jesus happy---which we do just by believing in only him and loving him with our lives.
October 13, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Atul said…
... i remember alot of my school teachers, and in retrospect not only i love all of them i still respect them... i guess it is only human not being able to appreciate what we have at present and then smile upon self thinking 'how silly i was' ... keep heart and keep teaching and ofcourse keep posting...
October 14, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Rachel said…
Don't give up, Janet. Your hard work will pay off--probably is paying off in ways you have no idea of.
October 14, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October in Review

Image
October 1 we woke up around 6:30 and watched nightmare before Christmas. We all took a nap. I took AJ to Walmart with me. I listened to most of Viola Davis' memoir. It was so good.  October 2 AJ and I were up at 6:00. I was busy preparing for our rehab conference at work. AJ spent the day at his grandmas' house. It was a normal evening at home, and I ended the day watching Riverdale.  October 3 I walked on the treadmill. It was just a normal day.  October 4 I did leg day. Work was busy as I had to set up for the rehab conference at the hotel. I played with AJ and did bedtime. Matthew picked us up dinner and we watched Couples Retreat.  October 5 I was up early for the rehab conference. It mostly went well. I played with my baby and had a fairly normal evening, hard conversations aside.  October 6 I was up early again for the second day of the rehab conference. I took AJ outside and spent time with him. I started on the cleaning and laundry. October 7 and I was up at 6:00 and fi
Read more

November GBOMB

Image
I missed October. I just didn't have the mental energy or time to commit to it. But I like doing these. It helps me reflect more about what I'm thinking and experiencing in life rather than just listing what I do in a day like a news report.  So in November... Good California. Everything about it. AJ did so well on the way there and on the way home. The weather was great--rainy day included. Being with my dad and watching him connect with AJ. Watching my brothers love on AJ. AJ getting to run around outside. The only downside is that my favorite donut shop was only open one day we were home, and they didn't have my favorite one.  Family photos. I love them! We took them at Wheeler Farm again, and Ali had them to us in two days. She's so good at what she does, and I was able to order our holiday cards super fast.  Christmas. Lights. Decorations. Music. It makes the short, dark days easier. Having Christmas music or movies playing just brings so much cheer.  Exercise. Wit
Read more

November in Review

Image
November 1 I had a four hour fierce conversations training at work. I ran some errands after work. It was a normal evening at home, and Matthew and I watched lessons in chemistry.  November 2 I was awake at 6:00 and lifted weights. It was a work from home day. We went as a family to eat dinner at Salt City burger company, which was pretty disappointing. It was a normal evening at home.  November 3 I was up at 6:30 and went on a walk. I worked for a few hours. I got most of the house cleaning done as well as three loads of laundry. We went as a family to Cornbelly's. It was perfect weather and not crowded. After bedtime Matthew and I ate panda express and watched lessons in chemistry.  November 4 we all got up at 7:00. I went on a run. I did my laundry, took AJ grocery shopping, got Dutch Bros, and took AJ to play outside. After AJ's nap we went to Cornbelly's just the two of us for the very last time. It was a normal evening after that (dinner, bedtime, etc.).  November 5 A
Read more