Teaching is hard.

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I shared these thoughts tonight on Facebook, and they seemed to resonate with my teacher friends. Maybe they’ll be a blessing to you as well…

When we say that teaching is hard, please don’t misunderstand us. We’re not talking about the mountains of paperwork or never-ending to-do list. It’s not the meetings or the parent conferences, or even the curriculum. We can handle the lesson plans, and we can go entire days without a bathroom break if need be. That’s not really what we’re referring to either. We say that teaching is hard because year after year after year, 25ish families put their precious angels in our care, and we begin a race to be enough. Smart enough, sweet enough, tough enough, flexible enough – we are one person trying to stretch and grow enough in order to meet the very different needs of every single student. Every year, we love them like they are our own and give everything we have so that they can successfully leave us behind. They make us laugh, cry, jump for joy, and bang our heads against the wall. They are our greatest pride and our overwhelming responsibility. We work long into the night and, yes, all summer long. Those precious faces are why we say teaching is hard. And why we can’t imagine doing anything else.

I keep looking at the faces of those precious babies in Connecticut, and I just pray their teachers know that they were far more than enough.


11 thoughts on “Teaching is hard.

  1. Every time I think about those children and their incredible teachers, I choke up. I wish I could do something for them, but I am choosing to continue to be the best I can be for my students, my children and grandchildren. This is how I will honor their memories.

  2. There are no words – we can only continue to be the light. Every day we can go out into the world and do our level best to be the spark of new learning and in return it is our great fortune to bear witness to it – that incredible moment when a child learns something new and is forever changed. When we do that we are enough, when we can appreciate it we are enough. If there is love there is always enough. Thank you for your poignant post –

  3. May I share this on my fb page with your permission? These are my feelings, my thoughts, and my sentiments exactly. They’re just your beautiful eloquent words.

  4. Thank you very much. As I go to school tomorrow I will be aching for the students and staff in Connecticut that won’t be. My heart just hurts.

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