Back to School

I've been pretty silent here on the blogosphere, enjoying every second of my summer vacation. Much like you sip your wine slowly and listen to The Civil Wars on repeat, the good stuff is meant to be savored. But now it's August - which means it's time to say goodbye to your friends and get back to school. And if you're lucky, you can start reading 10,000 blogs defending your job to others. This post is for you, seemingly whiny teachers, who feel they need to remind others that you take your job seriously.

#1 WE HAVE EARNED OUR SUMMER!
Yes, we have. But we've also lucked out that we have a job with the same hours as our kids and that we get paid vacation time. Come November all this sleeping-in, enjoying-to-do-less-days will seem like but a memory as our pulse is set by the classroom clock and we will have a hard time coming home and not freaking out that it's 6:02!! and dinner was supposed to be at 600!!! We know those 2 minutes in school time will mean all the difference between a restroom break or pee dripping down our legs, a happy team member or an irritated specials teacher who has been WAITING, etc. But for now, we will enjoy our summer, and our lowered blood pressure.

#2 WE ARE BROKE!
Yes, we are. But don't pretend that shopping down the back-to-school aisles of Staples, Walmart, and Target didn't give you a secret thrill. Come on, you and I both know that shopping for new chart markers, POLY folders (because those paper ones are a waste of time and an insult to my classroom), spirals, and that binder that will become your life is a high like any other (with exception of a new back to school dress that is adorable yet modest in a teacher way). Let's face it, we're like kids in a candy store and we're so excited to be this broke.

*And if you have the privilege to be married to us, watch out - because you WILL get a fashion show of staplers and organizers with a lengthy explanation of how we're going to implement this into our classroom! Oh Goody!

#3 WE ARE TIRED!
99% of the school year this is true. We're exhausted physically from chasing after our own kids or beating our bodies into submission in early morning workouts before we even get to school. Now don't forget the stress that idiot-going-to-slow-on-the-1-lane-road will cause before we burst through those double doors into the room that will remind us how many more HOURS of work we need to squeeze into the next 23 minutes. Then we spend the next 7.5 hours rationalizing with tiny children, organizing lessons & 20+ kids with the precision of a master puppeteer, and somehow manage to eat a 3 course meal in less than 10 mins. But, let's not talk about how tired we're GOING to be because it's summer now, meaning that we've caught up on sleep from last August and we're fresh-faced and ready for the next school year.

#4 WE WORK ALL YEAR LONG
So does everyone. Our "work" the past few months has included pinterest, spotify, and moscato. And then Target (of course). Stop complaining.

#5 WE ARE PROFESSIONALS
Absolutely - getting doubted, judged, and blamed at work is exhausting and shouldn't happen. Parents should trust us to do our best with their kids. We LOVE their kiddos which is why we're willing to do this thankless job for very little pay. Soon, we will be broke, stressed, and tired, fantasizing about a day off (or even for that kid to be sick just once) - but we LOVE our jobs. And those kids will soon be crossing the threshold into our mini-cosms we've created with cutesy bulletin boards and pinterest-inspired organization tricks. And we LOVE it.

But the more we complain, teachers, the less professional we seem - so buck it up, remember that there are a 1000 thankless jobs out there but you chose one that makes a difference, share this blog with another teacher friend, and let's all go back to the pool for one more day.