"Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry. So just look at them, and sigh, and know they love you." ~crosby, stills, & nash

I'm sure the rest of this week will be crazy, and after I write something good about my students they always seem to go downhill, but I'm making this post anyway. I can come back and look at it later this week when things are really insane to remind myself why I do what I do. Some things about my job that make me happy:

1. I get a lot of hugs. I get tears and anger and bad words, but I also get hugs. This one girl is an absolute sweetheart, and she hugs me every morning when she enters the room. No matter what kind of mood I'm in, her beautiful smile and kind greeting cheers me up. Her smile really lights up the room. She calls me her "favorite teacher in the world" at least five times a day. For example, when I hand out notebooks, she'll say, "Thank you my favorite teacher in the world." And it's sincere. She's so incredibly wonderful. I love kids like that. I get hugs from other students as well. My former students come to visit me, and they always hug me (even the boys). I think I must be doing something right if I can get seventh grade boys who have put up with a year of my teaching to voluntarily approach me and give me a hug.

2. I have a boy who's usually a complete troublemaker. He doesn't do work, he talks and sings throughout my lessons, he causes disruptions, he's rude to me, and he basically makes my life impossible. But the kids all have moments where they surprise me, and this boy's moment was today. We're working on our unit project; I've explained it multiple times and we did the first part in class already. He's done nothing and hasn't paid attention at all. Today I sat down next to him while the rest of the class was working and explained the project to him. He started writing. At the end of the period he said to me, "This is actually really cool, Ms. B." That may sound like something really small, but it was a big breakthrough for him. He worked and he actually enjoyed it. I hope he keeps it up.

3. It's scary but kind of cool to think about what a large role I play in these kids' lives. One of my former students was visiting me the other day during my free period, and she said that her younger sister goes around the apartment saying my last name. She just repeats my last name over and over. Last year the toddler was learning to talk. She heard her older sister and her mom talking about school a lot, and my name must have been mentioned often, so she picked up on it. I know my students must talk about me at home. Hopefully they say nice things (I think most of them probably do).

4. Related to point #3: I was helping out during my students' social studies class, and the SS teacher was talking about the ten commandments. He said that one of them is "Honor thy father and mother" and reminded them that we are essentially their parents while they're at school, so they have to respect us. They all started calling us Mom and Dad. Sometimes they call me Mom by accident. They're around me so much that it seems natural. I like that.

So even though my job sometimes drives me crazy, it has its perks.

Random comment: What is up with this weather?! It's 65 degrees right now. In December. I've been walking around outside wearing short sleeves and no coat and I'm perfectly comfortable. It's lovely but ridiculous. It's supposed to snow tomorrow. I can't deal with these drastic changes!