Life.

Let me tell you why I teach. I teach because there are students whose eyes light up when they see me everyday. they wave at me in the hallway and make it their business to stop by my room just to say hello. Some come and ask me for advice and some of them go out of their way to draw me pictures or talk to me. I am a teacher because for the time I have my students I know that I might be opening and child's eyes to a possibility, or making them feel safe and welcome... and that is priceless.

I know that I can't do everything for every child and for some I'll just be another teacher they will have long forgotten. But I had teachers who changed my life, and who I worked harder than I ever thought i could work in order to make them proud. In my darkest days I had teachers who were patient and kind to me; those were moments that changed my life.. and I teach not hoping for the recognition of those moments, but knowing that each moment has that potential.

SO I show up everyday.. I try to smile everyday... and i am just as thankful to my students as they sometimes are for me..

and also. I love it when they learn something. gosh.. being able to teach someone something new. to see the F student get an A.. to push a child hard and see the results.. makes the bad days worth it and the worse days just par for the course. I teach because its probably my calling.. even when I don't feel like answering it.