A day in the life of a middle school teacher.................................and how was your day?

[demtenjeep]

tell 100s of kids in the hallway to put their mask around their nose

break up a fight between two 6th grade girls and a boy who knocked one's glasses off in the hallway

write 3 students up for talking about popping each other's cherries and sucking each other off

comfort a beautiful young lady who was told her grandfather died and then dropped off at school. She hasn't seen him since 3rd grade and won't be able to go to the funeral because he is in Mexico and her parents can't risk it.

while spraying student's hands with sanitizer the bottle and spray nozzle separate and sanitizer is spilled all over the hallway

sent assignments to in school suspension for kids who fought at recess

graded 130 projects

ended with a sweet note from a young man thanking me for a great day and saying I was the best and he loved me and wished I was his mother


(makes it all worth it )

and how was your day?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Oh, my.

I have never taught school, and realized, once I had school-aged kids of my own, that I could not possibly do that.

When my oldest was young, I gave a lot of serious thought to home schooling (which is actually something I think more parents should think about, mainly because if they do, they will get how hard a teacher's job really is) but quickly figured out that I would be a terrible home-schooling mom. I could do a lot of enrichment stuff with my kid, both on my own and more formally with camps and after school programs. I was always very grateful that I could afford those.

My point here is to emphasize my appreciation for classroom teachers. Even before the Pandemic it was not an easy job. It's vastly harder now, and I recognize that I really have no idea exactly how vastly harder it is.

[demtenjeep]

2. we are May exhausted and it is only October

did I mention we have 3 teachers out with Covid and I personally have 4 students quarantined

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I have a good friend who is a retired elementary school teacher.

She did tutoring with Spanish language children (we live in Santa Fe, NM, she's fluent in Spanish in no small part from having been in the Peace Corps in Columbia in the late 1960s) until the pandemic. She really loved what she did, but of course it ended in 2020. More recently, her health isn't good and really cannot go back. She's 79, and does understand her limitations.

She has helped me understand how difficult it is to be a teacher even in "normal" times.

[3catwoman3]

3. That sweet note must have brought tears to your eyes.

It did to mine.

Thank you for sharing this touching moment.

Wishing you strength and serenity.

[demtenjeep]

4. things like that make it all worth it

it's the little moments for the win!

[Ishoutandscream2]

5. Taught middle school for 10 years

Longest 20 years of my life.

[demtenjeep]

6. for sure

there is a reason my hair is gray!

[onecaliberal]

7. Middle school teachers are saints.

[JenniferJuniper]

12. I was just about to post the same line.

Toughest gig of all.

[onecaliberal]

13. Yup. Hands down.

[WinstonSmith4740]

8. Taught at a Title 1 high school.

Just retired. Just takes that one kid, doesn't it? Miss them.

[demtenjeep]

10. we too are a Title school

fortunately I have about 4-5 like that every hour.


makes it all Great!!!!!

I truly love these kids

[3Hotdogs]

11. Its the fucking suicides. I taught in an upper middle class high school.

One kid...... I had a small class, probably around 15 kids as I recall. This kid sat away from the other kids. Interacted across the room. All the interactions between him and his classmates were cordial.

One afternoon, he went home and dove onto a large knife.

I wonder if I should have been concerned about his being away from the other kids.


------------------------

Next kid had problems. Obsessive-compulsive hand washing to the point where his hands would bleed. About two years after he graduated, he came to school around 3 p.m. He walked around the building, greeting teachers. The exchanges were friendly.

That afternoon, he went home, put his car in the garage and turned on the engine.

=================


Years later, I was teaching in an urban high school. There was time to talk about feelings and such in that school. I mentioned the experiences I had with the suicides in suburban school. One sophomore said that couldn't happen here. That kind of stuff is white kids' stuff.

In his senior year, the kid spent days in hospital, recovering from a failed suicide attempt.

[kanda]

14. wow

My heart goes out to you. I can't even imagine. Teaching is a rough gig to begin with, but then to add on all this, too. Wow. just wow.

[demtenjeep]

16. all of my former students that have died hit me HARD

one was a suicide and the parents had no money.

If I remember right-you all helped me raise enough that they could get funeral services.

[The Wizard]

15. Teachers' rewards

are watching the light go on in a student's eyes when they get the message and the context for reaching sound conclusions.

[demtenjeep]

17. for sure

I love my students