I never became a teacher for the money. I naively became a teacher to make a
difference in children’s lives.
Little did I know that two Masters degrees in education would provide me
with only some of the relevant experience needed for my job. In any given day I am far more than
just a teacher. While I do spend a
majority of my day imparting knowledge to young minds, I’m also a counselor,
nurse, and even sometimes even a tissue as our students inadvertently sneeze on
me or give me a hug only to leave nose reside behind on my clothes.
Today I was also an exterminator, parking lot attendant, and
pastry chef. Yes, you read that
right. On any given day my role of a teacher encompasses a myraid of other jobs that are done while attempting to provide meaningful instruction to my
students. Here's a glimpse of my day.
- Parking lot attendant- The freezing cold temperatures means
that many parents drop their darlings off at school rather than have them
shiver and wait for the bus stop.
While I can’t blame them, I stand out front twice a week ensuring that
kids disembark the bus safely. At
the same time, I have to keep one eye on the car drop off zone to make sure
parents don’t cut each other off.
As parking lot attendant pull to the front of the line before letting
their kids exit the car and the kids don’t happen to run in front of exiting
cars all while playing Frogger to make sure I am not hit by those trying to get
to work on time.
Exterminator- A mouse family moved into school during the
two weeks we were off from break.
I’m not talking a mom, dad, and a couple babies. I mean an extended family with cousins,
aunts, uncles, and multiple generations!
There are so many mice in our building I foolishly believed that trying
to trap one today might be helpful.
It eluded me but along with my colleagues, we found the hole where they
appear to be entering the building. Rather waiting for the county’s exterminator to put down
poison on Friday, we will be plugging up that hole tomorrow and arming
ourselves with boxes to trap the critters who run over our feet while trying to
provide meaningful instruction.
Pastry Chef- My dream was to be a professional pastry chef
sometime when I had my midlife crisis.
I haven’t had that midlife crisis yet but after making 12 recipes of
royal icing for the 4th grade gingerbread houses, I’ve had second
thoughts. Next year remind me not
to wear black when using mixer and 6 cups of powdered sugar per recipe. Strangely enough, the mice were not at
all interested in the gingerbread house ingredients.
Tour Guide/Secretary- I walk through our office
constantly and I should know that by doing so, I will get asked to do
something. Perhaps I’ll answer the phone and get a parent calling in an absence
or other times I’ll be asked to recite the school boundaries off the top of my
head. No, I don’t know if your new
house is within our boundaries but sure, I’ll take the new child who just
enrolled on a tour of the building to find their new classroom just so I don’t
have to answer the phone again.
One thing that you can never say about teaching is that it
is boring. I love my job because every day is new,
different, and mostly exciting but it becomes even more so when I am trying to dodge the cars in
the parking lot while making sure the students don’t let the mice in the
building to eat the gingerbread houses!
Original DC Metro Moms post
Leticia loves teaching but might love blogging more. When she's not at school, you can find her writing about quality technology for families on
her Tech Savvy Mama site, The LeapFrog Community, and The Washington Times. Leticia is glad that the holidays are
over and she will not have to make any more icing until next year but will
probably see more mice tomorrow.
Recent Comments