TheTeacherGuy.com

I grew up in a reasonably affluent neighborhood with great schools and manicured lawns. All the way until I got into high school and I could start driving I really thought that this is how everyone lived, at least for the most part. So, naturally I wanted to be a teacher, I mean who wouldn’t. All they had to do was show up and give a lecture or two, maybe a project or a quiz and then they get summers off as well as multiple weeks off throughout the year.

https://youtu.be/xq7KlVcdkNE

Once I got into middle school and high school I met a new class of teachers called coaches. I thought that these guys were the most caring people in my entire life. They spent sun-up to sun-down with us, and made sure that we were taken care of. I loved my coaches. So now, instead of just being a teacher I wanted to be a coach as well.

I believe it was around my sophomore or junior year, that I really started to do some research on what it would take in order for me to become a teacher and a coach. My parents were trying their best to just keep us in our house and keep up with the vacations and stuff that all the families around us were partaking in, so I knew in my heart that they wouldn’t be able to pay for college. It is hard to live in the rat-race world that is the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and not get sucked into it. I felt as though my journey to becoming a teacher was over before it could even begin.

I got a good job at 18 making more money than honestly any 18 year old should be making at that time, to where at 19 I was married and had my own house. Then my life got turned upside-down. At 21 I was divorced, in debt, and had fully managed to burn every bridge I ever had. I knew that I had to make a change. And to be honest, a part of me was still wanting to become a teacher, I never let go of that dream. I knew that I was not responsible enough to make my own choices anymore, so I went to every branches recruiters to see who could get me in with the least amount of effort or wait time on my part. Of course that means I went Army… And I absolutely loved it.

Through my time in the Army and being able to not only be trained by some of the world’s best men and women, I was also able to get my feet wet with training and teaching others. Let’s just say that the Army had a big role in me becoming a teacher today. But when I graduated in 2019 from Arizona State University, and finally got a teaching job offer 2 days before the school year began for the 2023-24 school year, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I remember getting the call from my now principal about a week before school starting, saying that she would like to set up an interview. I was so excited, nervous, and absolutely drained. I was working nights for a chicken plant at the time as a supervisor and knew that I was going to have to come in and ace this interview after only a couple of hours of sleep following a 12+ hour shift. But, with my adrenaline pumping and a red bull in hand, I marched up to this rural middle school that looks like it belongs in a world from a long time ago. But for me this school looks like the greatest building to ever be constructed. And more than that, the feeling I got when I walked through those doors and met the cast of characters that I might be working with, I felt like I was home.

It was only about fifteen minutes after my interview that I received a call from my principal asking if I was interested in taking the job. I know that she could hear my smile through the phone as I told her that I would love to take the job and I can’t wait. She explains to me that the job is mine, but that we have to wait for the next school board meeting (which was two days before school starts) to make it official. That meant that I was going to miss meet the teacher, some professional development days, and really had to hit the ground running when it came to lesson planning. But it was mine and I had finally made it.

This was a journey that took me over 15 years to see come true. Through all the long nights and fights and frustration, I knew that this would be worth it. I was going to have a chance to make a difference in kids lives. I was going to have these inquisitive minds asking me all of these questions, and anyone who knows me knows that I love showing off my brain. This was my dream job, and even though people had told me not to get too excited before I even step foot in my classroom, I did not care.

I am only four months into my first year of teaching, but I have to admit some of the shininess of my “dream job” has worn off. This is not to say I don’t absolutely love my job or my kids, but it does mean that my perspective about teaching has changed. Am I making a difference in my kids’ lives? I absolutely believe so. What I didn’t expect is how much they would change me or my perspective on the world so quickly. I have kids in my class that have struggles that I could never dream of living through. I refuse to share their stories here as it is not my place to do so, but what I will say is that the student-teacher relationship is one of the most impactful exchanges I have ever experienced. And honestly, it was not my choice on whether or not their stories, background or personalities affect me. But I am glad that they have.

When I first started thinking about teaching as a career choice that I could be a part of, I thought that the greatest benefit to the job was all of the time off you get throughout the year. If that wasn’t your biggest draw to the career, then maybe it was the idea of teacher retirement, as pensions are harder and harder to come by now-a-days. But the more time I spend with these kids, the more that I realize that the biggest benefit of this career, and the reason why I think that most educators stay for so long is the fact that you are able to have so many human experiences without even realizing it. So, is teaching all that I expected it to be? Absolutely not! But do I still love it as much as I thought I would? I think that I actually love it even more.