Tonight, I had some grading of test corrections to do. Bored from being home alone, I decided to venture out to Pei Wei. I was eating my kids meal and no one was really giving me really weird looks or pity looks (the look that says oh you poor thing, you deal with my kids all day). Now I know why I love Panera. I don't get weird comments from the employees. One wmployee tonight asked me if I was a teacher. "No, I'm not. I'm actually a paper grading thief who clearly needs something better to do with my time." What do you think! That wasn't enough for him though. He then had to insist that I should be relaxing, not grading papers. Yeah, that would be nice but these papers aren't going to grade themselves. THEN, when I was leaving, he said, "See ya later teach. You really shouldn't be grading papers." You know what!? You're right. I shouldn't be and students shouldn't be doing work for me to grade and I shouldn't have to spend all my time at work doing a million other things like the majority of the profession I work in... But this, this is what I really wanted to say....
I do teach. I do grade papers at home, in public places and on my phone if necessary. I read books and take classes to be a better teacher. I pay for these classes, they're not even free and when I need to renew my license, I get to pay for that too. Did I mention my healthcare is cheap but 25% of my check pays taxes? I like kids and I'm willing to go the extra mile. If other people in this world would do their part, then I could actually spend time everyday teaching students and I wouldn't have to do paperwork because all my kids and their families would do the right thing. I wouldn't have to spend my prep grading, planning, and cleaning because people would want to help. Oh yeah, and I could teach more and be more effective if I wasn't being a therapist, counselor, nurse, mom, aunt, baby-sitter, cousin, big sister, policeman, cia detective, fire fighter (not literally) and fact checker. I also wouldn't have to be a dictator or a crazy lady who should be in acting school, instead of a classroom. I will try not to be a jungle gym monitor, a playground guard, a zoo keeper or a circus trainer if people knew when to zip it. I could actually teach and you, my friend, could contribute to society in a kind way. Oh yeah, and my kids are high on the attitude scale and they know not to mess with me so please sir be my guest and give me more time in the day or teach me how to use my time in a more effective way while meeting the needs of 150+ students. Let me know how that goes...
That's what I wanted to say. But I didn't. I'm feisty (poor guy just didn't know) and have no patience to tolerate people who tell me to make time. There would really be no point if I could. So that's what I think. At the end of the day, I would rather be in a classroom of high-maintenance needy kids than I would be the public who clearly knows how to do my job better than me. The end. -Melissa
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