Why It's All Worth It

So, Ali is starting to discover while all that annoying stuff about pregnancy is worth is (baby Miles came today...yippee!) and today, my job just seems worth it.

I am just coming off a crazy two weeks of finals at school. Just about every day was non-stop and I was without as much sleep as I'd like. But today, was one of those amazing days at my school. One highlight was the freshman speeches. Every 9th grader in the school writes a persuasive speech. They have been presenting their speeches in front of their classmates, but today was the day when eight lucky babes got to speak in front of the whole school. The topic is of their choosing, and we heard about teen sex, the evils of plastic water bottles, immigration, why Taco Bell is not Mexican food, why television is horrible, and why Disney is perpetuating a bad stereotype for girls. Every kid who was a ninth grader at my school has written a speech and presented it to their classmates, so it's no surprise that all students were amazing attentive and respectful for this cohort. Well, it's not a surprise now that I've been here a year. It's absolutely amazing to show so much interest in what these kids were saying. So, that refreshed me.

After speeches, I got to go out to lunch with my mentor group. They are so great...the 11th graders that basically showed me the ropes of the school and are so near and dear to me. After lunch, we did "epic" appreciations. Every Thursday, we do appreciations about our week. On Thanksgiving, we did big ones and today, I asked my students to appreciate something from this year. Think big, kids! So many of them appreciated their teachers for all the support this school gives its students. I appreciated them for welcoming me so much this year and for always wanting to learn more about math. Yeah, they are typical kids who complain about too much homework, but they really do want to learn and they respect their teachers for our role in that. It's amazing.

Oh, and the highlight of my day (and this is the kind of thing that can only happen at my school): A student came up to me with a water gun (a little one) and squirted me. I chased him a bit, but let him go. Then I saw him run after someone else. I snuck up behind him, took the gun, and pinned him to the floor with a stream of water to the applause of 50-100 kids. It didn't take long for the legend to spread. Only at my school...

Finally, I spent my night at the prom. I'm going to need to ice bath tomorrow, since I did a bit too much dancing, given the race I have in less than 36 hours. I was almost as sweaty as Ali's wedding (it is over 90 degrees here lately) because I love to dance...a lot. I am definitely not the most gifted but I do have fun getting everyone up to boogie (did I write about the spontaneous dance party two weeks ago at school?). I really just can't resist the music...maybe as a teacher I shouldn't be on the dance floor, but once I'm in the room with some good tunes, I have no discipline. I hope I get to have a wedding that's just a crazy fun dance party...with seltzer to keep me hydrated (they only had soda and water that was not cold enough). I hope that at this hypothetical wedding, I am marrying someone who loves to dance with me! And who doesn't mind the sweating. After the past two weeks, I am even more convinced that teachers absolutely earn every day of their two months of summer vacation. I have never worked so hard and been so crazed every moment of every day as these last few weeks, but breaking it down to "Thriller" with students loving the presence of their teachers on the dance floor...it's all worth it.