ten things tuesday

My very cool blog buddy, Mrs. Chili, has a Ten Things Tuesday meme and I'm jumping aboard!

Ten things I like about teaching: (this is after a rather stressful day and I thought it would be a good exercise to think of reasons I like teaching...)

1) Laughing. I laugh every single day; so frequently that I can't count the number of times I laugh. Sometimes I'm laughing at, others I'm laughing with.

2) Creativity. There is a lot of room for creativity when trying to make a dry period of history interesting to modern teenagers who are completely not interested.

3) Colleagues. Professionally speaking this is THE BEST group of colleagues I've ever had. In my department we work together so well we are the envy of other departments. We leave our egos at the door and truly collaborate. Although there have been a couple of opportunities offered to me at other schools, I can't imagine leaving this department to try to recreate the magic elsewhere.

4) Connections. Sometimes I connect with students who make a difference in my life. We become almost like friends, although there are barriers that prevent true friendship. I like to keep my boundaries firmly in place yet cultivate close connections.

5) Summer and other vacations. This is tricky to explain to non-educators. Because I am contracted for a certain number of days, I don't get paid for days outside the contract. Having said that, there are no paid vacations for teachers. We do not get paid holidays, either. We get paid for the days we work. How we allot our pay is a different story--I choose to break my salary in a way that I receive checks year-round. But after June 20, I've earned all I'm going to earn. So... ok, lemme get back to vacations and summer--it's an intense job and I appreciate having some breaks in it to recharge and get inspired again.

6) Enthusiasm. I love passing my enthusiasm for history on to more people. I get so excited by some periods of time that the students can't help but get interested in what's going on. And I work hard at making timely connections with today's world, to keep it relevant.

7) Flexibility. When I was in high school we read from the text and did the section review every single day. I truly cannot remember ever having a class discussion, writing a paper, taking notes, working with a partner... no variety. (And I've talked with other classmates about this--they agree!) So I make sure to differentiate instruction and try new approaches as often as I can. I like maintaining routine with flexibility.

8) Structure. I like having structure and routine in my day. I find it helps with classroom management, too, to have some regular activities.

9) Environment. It takes a lot of work but I create an environment that allows my students to ask questions (even the stupid ones and yes, there are some stupid ones), try answering questions, and make connections. I work hard to create an atmosphere of respect and let them know that we can have fun when we work, too. (just today my colleagues called me the Queen of Climate.)

10) Visits. It is wonderful when former students take time out of their busy lives to stop and talk to me. Bumping into them at some random place and having them want to visit for a few minutes means the world to me. After ten years, some of them still remember me!