To Delete or Not Delete that is the Question

So recently I was told that I am treading a very fine line with what I write here and that I risk distancing other teachers by sounding disgruntled. I don't want readers to believe that I am that type of person and that I hate what I do. I love teaching; if I didn't I would take my English degree and go elsewhere. To combat the idea that I am just a teacher who loves to complain I would like to intermix some positive stories into my blog as well. To start I will talk about why I do what I do everyday.

Most teachers enter the education field because they have brilliant notions of imparting wisdom to children and of making a difference in the lives of those they teach. I myself and no different, in fact up until approximately my junior year of high school my career goal was to become a veterinarian at a zoo (something my mother still wishes I had done). It was during this time that a song came out called "Youth of the Nation" by a group called P.O.D. For readers who are unfamiliar with this song it was written after school shootings continued to become a common theme in the news. It tells the tale of a student killed in a school shooting, a girl who turns to sex to deal with her pain, and a boy who commits suicide. It was while listening to this song on the radio that a felt a tug at my heart that I needed to try and make a difference and in my mind this was the best way to do this. For me I figured teaching would one day eventually lead to a career as a guidance counselor (and hopefully it still will if I can ever make enough money to pay for graduate school in this area).

Why did I tell this story? Because about a week ago I had one of those "this is why I do my job" moments. Most of the time these moments are few and far between but every once in awhile they come slamming into you and you feel that you are making a difference if only a small one. Right before the end of the marking period my students took a test on the novel we had just finished reading. To help boost their grades a little I gave them a small gimme extra credit. All they had to answer was "What have you liked about Language Arts so far this year? Use complete sentences." Many of my students told me they had liked the book they just finished (not surprising as "The Outsiders" will always be a classic for teens). Others said they liked certain activities we had done or the day we went outside. While all of these things helped me to know they had been paying attention in class so far this year it was one student's extra credit that really made me smile. This student is one who many see as a behavior problem but who I truly like because underneath the boisterous personality is a genuinely sweet kid. On his test he wrote (in many misspellings) that his favorite thing about Language Arts was the teacher because "she showed us she cared. Yup, she did. She really wanted to see us succeed" (all spelling has been corrected). It is the things like this that mean the world to me and I hope other teachers get to have these moments too!