School's out for summer!

A blog post to commemorate the longest, most difficult school year of my professional career. I usually don't write posts about work, but I thought it necessary. We had a big batch of retirees this year and all of them are people that I've always looked up to. I hope that I can have the influence on kids that they have had. They are amazing teachers and wonderful people.

A few of my favorite things about my job:

My colleagues. The staff at my school is THE BEST staff in the entire world. It's like family. We stick together. Even though we don't always agree personally or professionally, we are a family and we stick together. We work hard and we play hard. I love them dearly, and if weren't for my other fabulous co-workers I would have gone insane years ago.

The kiddos. Sure, there's always a few that drive you bonkers, but for the most part I work with super kids. They come to school ready to learn (as ready as adolescents ever are), their parents are (usually) supportive, and they are just fun kids. They're in that (at times very awkward) stage where they desperately want to be adults, yet at the same time they still want to be a kid. It is a privilege to be their teacher and to interact with them every day.

The laughter. Rarely does a day go by that I don't enjoy a nice hearty belly laugh. Whether it's something funny in our classroom, a moment in the hallway or a joke in the workroom at lunch. There's always laughter. After all, we work with hormonal teenagers. If we didn't laugh, we'd cry.

Summer vacation. Who could complain about having summers off? Sometimes I work a little bit on school work in the summer. But not too much. I need the time to recharge. Especially now that I get to fill my summer days with this sweetie pie.


El espanol. (Sorry about the poor spelling...can't figure out how to add the tilde on blogger...) It's so much fun to be a Spanish teacher. So. Much. Fun. I love it. We play fun games, perform short skits, have conversations, and conjugate verbs in neatly organized charts. Who wouldn't LOVE that? AND, I've gone to Spain three times in the last five years!

So, even though it was a challenging year, being a teacher is still the greatest job on earth for me. It's more than just a job. It's a calling and a passion.

And I'm honored to be a teacher. Happy summer!!!!