Today is Tuesday, May 16th, and in only three days I will be finished teaching my first ever school year. It has been a wonderful opportunity to grow, learn, connect, and earn money for the family. However, to teach in a classroom setting is not my passion in life. And while I understand that sometimes we have to do what is necessary to make ends meet, I am fortunate to have other endeavors that pay enough for my family to live comfortably.
Some days I went home fuming from being yelled at, other days I went home high on the feeling that I made a difference. Most days were somewhere in the middle, which is just where I want to be.
Today, a student wrote and read me a letter stating that I have been the most influential person in her life. She said I was the most honest and straightforward person she had ever met, and that I taught her to not give a shit what other people think about us but to just be ourselves no matter what. She claims that I encouraged her to do the best work that she could and convinced her that her work is top quality. She read it to me in my classroom, on the last day we will have class together, and I teared up.
So I will wrap up this down and dirty Teacher Blogs Series with a little note of gratitude. This teaching gig is a hard job, not in a physical sense like work I previously did as an infantryman or as a laborer, but in an emotional sense. Each student has a story, some are a lot harder than others, but we are all facing a battle. Each student learns differently and communicates differently and trying to figure out how to bring out the best of each student takes a lot of patience, effort, and work. Good teachers are definitely underpaid. This job has allowed me grow into a more patient and tolerant person. A little more kind, a lot more understanding, and a tiny bit more hip with today’s modern lingo.
All in all, I wouldn’t trade this last school year for nothing. But I must say, that I am jumping for joy at the opportunity to go home to our small farm with tons of projects and to work hard at my own dreams. To create and coordinate a schedule with Savanna where Dad can Write and she can make Art and we can eat our meals together with our two little daughters and then get back outside to work in the dirt to the sounds of sandhill cranes and Wilson snipes.
Thank you God for this opportunity. Thank you Savanna for supporting me as a teacher and being there to take care of the girls and chores everyday while I have been away. Thank you to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District for hiring me and providing an Emergency Teaching Certification, and especially to Matthew LaHue, the Ninilchik School Principal, for seeing me as a natural born teacher and asking me to come on board. It has been a joy.
Wrapping up the School Year
