Teaching

No one said it was easy, no one said it would be this hard.

I wanted to be a teacher at a very young age and I carried that want throughout my adolescence and into young adult hood.  I went to college as a Liberal Studies major and I graduated as one as well.  I believe I am the only one in my group of friends that did not change my major.

I studied, I prepared, I took expensive state tests.

I moved to Europe, took more classes.

I moved back to California and started my credential program.

I graduated, I took more expensive state tests, and added more debt for my teaching credential.

I applied to over 250 jobs, had only 2 interviews in a 2 1/2 year period.

I finally got hired, part time, but it was a job!

That part time job was last year and I have loved it since day one.  Although I knew that teaching was not an easy profession by any means, no one said that it could be so hard.  No one said how tired you might get.  No one said how attached to students I would get.  No one told me that as much as I love my students, they might also frustrate me to no end.  No one said that I would get frustrated with myself, for being frustrated with my students.

No one said, that seeing friends would be harder because I stay late at work.  That a dating life would be non existent.  No one said that when the weekend comes that I would want to stay home if possible, to recharge.

But then again, no one said it was easy.

Don't get me wrong, I love teaching.  I believe that it is a part of who I am.  I get so much joy from seeing my students during the day.  Seeing them work hard on their projects.  Sharing a few laughs, sometimes 'your mom' jokes. It is a blessing and a curse.  Your whole person is enveloped with 'teaching'.

It is just that no one said that I would be so invested, so intertwined with my school... with my students.  I didn't realize how protective of this place I could be.  That I would be filled with agitation, with semi rage as some board of directors threatened to take my students from me.  A group of people that don't know anything about my students, who they are, where they come from.  A group of people that don't look at the facts.  A group of people that make decisions without weighing the consequences.  A group of people that could basically care less, but try to look like they do.

No one said that I would learn so much about myself in the process of teaching others.  No one said that that might be the hardest of all.

But then again, no one said it was easy.

We get to keep our school for now.  We'll face many more oppositions as we go down this road of the political education system.  I will become frustrated many a time, I am sure.  I am thankful for that.  I am thankful that I have a challenge.  I am thankful that I will stand up for my students who will someday forget who I am.  I am thankful that I will fight for a school, a school that has given me more than I can see now.

 Sure, no one said it was going to be so hard.

But then again, no one said it was easy.