The list of things that make the job of a teacher unique is long. Beyond the obvious differences, one of the unexpected things I found myself struggling with is having to bite my tongue. Time and time again, I find myself in situations with something on the tip of my tongue that I couldn't actually say to a student. Sometimes it was because the thought was inappropriate and my teacher filter almost stopped working, or other times it was because I knew the students wouldn't really grasp what it was I wanted to tell them. To try and find some connection between all of these almost statements, I decided to ask some teacher friends for help and pull together a list of things teachers wish they could say to students.
1. WTF? (But said the grown up way) This is a simple one, but it's true far too often. As a teacher, you see students do or say some of the strangest things like it's totally normal. I'm all for individual self-expression, but having that many hormones in one building can be a recipe for some incredibly bizarre situations. Sometimes they're crying, sometimes they're yelling, sometimes they're uncontrollably laughing. Some days you'll walk in and find them trying to crawl on the desk, under the desk, everywhere they're not supposed to be. It takes a special kind of patience to not let immediate thoughts slip out of your mouth.
2. I'm a human being. Students and society as a whole have this incredibly bizarre tendency to dehumanize teachers. Once you become a teacher, you can be nothing else. Yes teaching is the kind of job that doesn't stop when you walk out of your classroom, but teachers do have lives outside of their work (shocking, I know). You can't run into a student at the grocery store without them getting a "Woah, Miss Hawkins eats cereal too?" look on their face.
3. I'm not stupid. I'm constantly amazed by all of the things students assume teachers don't know. I saw you throw that. I heard you say that. I know you're lying. I see you texting. I know GoogleDocs didn't just accidentally delete your research paper. As soon as students realize teachers aren't stupid, life becomes easier for everyone involved.
4. ...and neither are you. One of the saddest and far too common moments is when you can see your students don't believe in their ability to achieve something. You give them an assignment or ask them a question and see them immediately shut down. The light in their eyes goes dark and they say, "Miss, I'm not smart enough for this" or "I can't do this." Somewhere along the line, so many kids got the idea they were, and too many teachers are willing to give up on them and act like it's true. Yes students can be rude and inexplicably frustrating and ungrateful, but it's our job to get them to a place where they finally believe they're not stupid.
5. You're too young for that. The majority of my experience is with high school students, and even having kids at the older end of the spectrum I find myself shuddering at some of the things they say or do. With my hormone ridden students, I often think "You're too young to even pretend you know what that means," but that doesn't stop them. Beyond the obvious gross things they're far too young for, the moments I want to say it even more are the ones when I see how much they've been forced to experience. There are so many students who are far too young to have as much responsibility as they do. They're too young to have to support themselves or their families. They're too young to have felt that much pain. While the situations all differ, the feelings associated with them stay the same.
6. I have bad days too. Real life happens for teachers. As much as we always want to be on our A-game, sometimes we're just not. There are days I just don't want to be there. The only difference is, when I don't want to be there I can't pout at my desk and refuse to do my job like my kids do.
7. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. As much as I want to tell my students that reading all the books on the curriculum will make their lives easy and happy and successful, it isn't true. Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes it really sucks. You may be hot stuff in high school, but life outside the walls of that school doesn't care. I want my students to see the good in the world and the good in themselves, but I don't want them to be unprepared for when things don't go the way they expected.
8. You always have a choice. Yes, life can be hard. Sometimes it feels like the world is out to get you. You always get to decide how to respond to the situations you're put in. Look at your life or what you think your future may be and ask yourself, "Am I happy with this?" If not, make the choice to change it.
When I asked for help with this list, I thought I'd end up with a variety of hysterical, cathartic responses. Instead of frustrated and funny, I received heartfelt and sincere. Teaching can be hard. There will be days you want to cry or scream or both. But teachers don't choose this field because it will be easy. They choose it because they love it. Asking for help with this list, I was reminded of all the reasons I love what I do.
