I realize...

As a grad student and a full time teacher stress is not something that is new to me.  This year alone I have had more headaches, acne break outs, chocolate binges and one very irritating case of shingles than ever before.  Through it all, one thing was for sure, no matter how hard you try to stay on top of things, when you have no time, that is the time that all your work seems to pile up.

At the end of the year a teacher is at their most stressed.  Not only are the students ready to have fun in the sun and couldn't give a crap what we have planned.  But we also have all of our end of year tasks ahead of us.  Report cards, reading assessments, writing samples, you name it, we have to get it done.  And to top it off we have to make sure our classroom is packed and organized for the following year.

Now this amount of work could drive any teacher to have late nights and a stressful last week of school, but in my case add a 25 page term paper due on the last day of school and you have one teacher ready to pull her hair out.

Now by this point you probably think I am just a big complainer who doesn't know how to suck it up for eight days.  I mean really your a teacher, you get the whole summer off.  I don't want this post to seem like a whiny person who can't tough it out.  What this post is meant to be is my personal 'ah" moment.

As a student you only got to see one side of the world of education.  As a student we didn't see the hours of planning and prep that goes into one days teaching.  As a student we didn't see the late nights  creating power points or charts for the next days lesson.  In the eyes of the student, the teacher is someone who just always has everything they need ready to do.

This post is a THANK YOU to all the teachers I had as a child, for all the work they put into making school a wonderful place to me.  When all is said and done you made me develop a passion for learning, you achieved your goal and turned me into a life long learner.  This post is a thank you for all your dedication and hours spent building up your classroom to make it the wonderful place I knew.

Thank You.