Teaching is soooo excruciatingly frustrating!

25 years I’ve done this – under-funded, over-tested, overstretched, blamed for poor scores or achievement, etc.

Many have told me they could never teach – dang kids and parents and administrators and all.

But I’ve felt the same about professions others go to everyday.

So why am I looking forward to this year? I’ll be back getting ready in my room next week – the kids come on the 28th. I won’t even be getting paid to be there (nor will all my colleagues that have already been there for 20 or 30 or 40 hours or more)

Its what I do … what I get fired up about … I guess. No, I am and I do get fired up about it … WHY??

I do have some extra incentives this fall. I have a new interactive whiteboard set-up in my classroom and if I can get 7 year old iBook laptops running and keep them running well – I get to do a 1:1 laptop program with my fourth graders – and I’m looking forward to that.

But that’s not IT.

I also look forward to the teaching and learning and field trips and projects I hope to have my students experience and share.

But that’s not it.

I think it must be all the triumphs along the way these 25 years – like a narcotic or a gambling habit – maybe I need those exhilarating experiences when it works. When it works for the class, or a group in the class, or just one student – because when it works for them it must work for me too – maybe that’s it.

Learning and teaching are messy.