Since I’ve been back to work, the age-old question of whether a woman’s place is in the home or on the job has plagued me. I love my job. I truly feel like being a teacher is my calling.But, so is being a mom. I love my son. I can’t wait to see him after work and squeeze on him and play with him. Do I ever get extremely tired and frustrated with him? Yes, absolutely. But guess what. I get that way with my students, too.
Being back to work has been really frustrating because it has taken so much of my time away from Joshua. In addition to my regular classroom responsibilities, I’m also the Color Guard sponsor/instructor. The hours I spend each week preparing for games and competitions amount to at least a part-time job, if not another full-time job. Thinking about how many hours a day Joshua spends in day care makes me want to cry.
But there have been a few events recently that have made all of this time away from Joshua a little more “worth it” (if time away from him can ever be “worth it”…aside from when I’m getting a massage or a facial or a mani/pedi or something else that makes me feel a little less like a frumpy, stretch-mark covered mom…).
We had a marching competition on Saturday. My girls took first in their class and our band took “Grand Champion” for the whole competition. Considering the way our season has gone, this is more than fantastic. We had a choreographer. In July, he “had to go to a funeral” and took a job with another Guard. We had to scramble to find someone to write flag work and just finished teaching the girls the work on Monday. The Monday before the competition. I am so, so proud of the hard work my girls have put in for this. They earned it.
The second event came this morning. I opened my email to start the day and found the following email from a student:
I’ve NEVER liked reading… any other day… if you would have asked me… I would have said to you I hated reading… I got this book today and I’m already on chapter 8… that may not seem like a lot but if you knew me… it is… its hard to put the book down…
I haven’t read that much since I’ve been in middle school… probably not as much as I’ve already read in this book.
When you first told the class and myself that we would have to start reading a book… I was horrified…
But also… you said you would give us a list of books and also a one that you thought we would like… well when you said only a few could read each book I immediatly went for “Something Wicked this Way Comes” and then when you told me that that book was the one you would have chosen for me… I was nothing short of ELATED!
I cannot believe you were able to get me interested in a book and for that I thank you for being my teacher. You are definitely my favorite of the year as well as my entire high school career so far.
Ellipsis abuse aside, this is a pretty fantastic way to start the day. I cried at my desk this morning when I read this email. It may not seem like a big deal, but I’ve always been an “If I can just reach ONE kid” kind of teacher. As far as I’m concerned, this is my year. Right here. In this moment. I’ve “arrived,” so to speak.
I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to answer the question of where I think my “place” is. Would I like to be a stay-at-home-mom one day? You bet. But right now, I’m feeling pretty damn pleased with my career choice.
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Megan
Saturday 17th of October 2009
Congrats to your team!! That's wonderful!
And what an email! That is so awesome that your student found a book to love and to actually let you know about it. =D
Thanks for stopping by on my SITS day!!
Eliza
Friday 9th of October 2009
Oh my my gosh that is so sweet! Kind of makes it worth all the hard work. :)
Chardonnay
Friday 9th of October 2009
What a great kid to let you know that. I almost cried too!
Jayme
Friday 9th of October 2009
What an awesome email! How rewarding for you to get that!