We Really Do Love Our Students. Usually

We Really Do Love You.  Usually.

Any good teacher is there because of the students .  Sure, the $143.00 a week is nice too (a salary crack already? Yes.) but it really is for the kids.  Whatever age group a teacher teaches, she is there because of the kids.  We can’t help it.  We love our kids.  You become our kids.  You become the reason we get up at the ungodly hour of 5:00 AM so we can be there before you.  We see you when you are sad, we notice when you are happy, we pull for you when you are facing a challenge.  We cheer for you when you reign supreme.  

This goes for every single student.  Every single day.  Except some days.  Like every day the sun rises.  The truth of the matter is, under it all, we love you.  The truth of the matter is also, there days where you can be a plain idiot.  (You know who you are).  The thing is, we have already heard the hilarious noise you can make with your armpit, especially if we have been around long enough to have taught your father.  Also, that noise is disgusting.

That doesn’t mean we don’t love you and pull for you.  Yes, some days we fantasize early dismissal days because you left class early and we LOVE inservice days because, well, you aren’t there.  Those days would only last for so long.  We would get dreadfully bored.  We would miss you.  Actually, over the summer your teachers miss you.  Through it all, arm farts included, we miss you.

We Really Do Want You To Succeed.  Always.

Your teachers really do want you to succeed.  Not just because it makes us look good, either.  We want you to succeed, no matter where you came from, no matter where you are headed. Remember, you become our kids and we love you. We see you filled with fear and nervous butterflies before a big game or dance; we see the unabashed confidence of youth as you stare down the road into your future and your dreams open up in front of you. You give us hope. When the time finally comes and you arrive at your graduation ceremony, you think, “Wow! I did it!  Now what am I going to do?”  

We think, “Dear God, if I have to sit through one more graduation speech, I am going to lose it!”  Seriously though, your ceremony is beautiful and the most perfect ever devised by anyone who didn’t live on Mount Olympus (go ask your history/mythology teacher).  Also it is pretty much the same as every other speech ever given at a graduation ceremony since the ceremony first began on Mount Olympus.  Except yours is better.  And we are proud.  You did it.  While you celebrate with your friends and family, sometimes we are there with you personally, enjoying the parties and praying that no one there gives anyone under age alcohol because we don’t want that to blow back on us.  Even if we are not at the parties personally, always we are with you in our hearts.

Success doesn’t only appear at the graduation ceremony however.  There are many little successes everyday.  These are often what keep us coming back everyday.  Personally, I love to see a student who has been struggling with a difficult concept in economics finally understand that Stan Lee is a maniacal genius.  I mean, for crying out loud, who designs a “universe” that ties in multiple movies where not only does it make sense that “Gods” from Asgaard, highly trained assassins, lab experiments turned super cute super hero frozen for several decades, another lab accident turned giant green anger machine, and Robert Downey Jr. all get together and take orders from a one eyed man who doesn’t trust anyone but also convinces us to part with literally dozens of dollars in going to see these movies.  Seriously, Robert Downey Jr. is adorable.  Also, once the students understand this, economics doesn’t seem so hard.  When you students are wiling to challenge yourselves and work through a difficult concept, good teachers will help you.  We will cheer for you and we will continue to silently pray for you on test day.