Day 19- Grad School

11/19/13

On Tuesdays, I have grad school. That has been my Tuesday night for about the past 15 months, yes, I have been missing Pretty Little Liars in real time for 15 months :(  lol

As much as I have complained about the work (oh gosh, the work!), the readings (some were not too bad...), or the fact that Tuesdays are the longest days ever, I am actually thankful for grad school.

Most of you are thinking, oh course you are, who doesn't love a pay raise! But it's more than that. I'm not a teacher because I want to make a ton of money. If that were the case, I wouldn't have been a teacher. In fact, I spend a good amount of that money that I make on things for my kids and items for my classroom just because I think they would like it. What teacher doesn't do that??

I'm also not a teacher because I want the summers off. Yes, I get the summers off, but by "off" I mean that I'm not working with students. I still spend a lot of time planning, copying, organizing, re-organizing, and even pinning (lol) for my job. Do I take a few weeks off there to just relax and do nothing all day? Yes, I do, but I also work with twenty 5 and 6 year olds for about 10 months...which is not easy work. I am not saying your work is easier, but it is not working with twenty 5 and 6 year olds, so it is VERY different. My job is basically like being an actor in a boring show that I need to make interesting to 20 kiddos from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Different? I think we can agree on that. Do I deserve a few weeks of rest in the summer? Uh, yea, but don't tell me that I get the summers off, because I don't. I just work differently in the summer time than I do in the Fall, Winter, and Spring.

I'm a teacher because I like helping people learn new things, I like working with children, and I think this work is some of the most important work in the world. I'm a Kindergarten teacher because I like working with little children, the curriculum is super fun to teach, and the growth I see from the beginning of the year to the end of the year is one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. I like to be a part of that on a daily basis, and I like to celebrate that with them at the end of the year.
Also, they are mostly cute and say funny things, so that's a bonus.

Grad school has provided me with the opportunity to learn more about my profession, enhance my teaching of it, and help the kiddos in my class become better learners. I have learned a lot through the reading and work I have done. Has every class been mind blowingly awesome and enlightening? No. This is what I did this week in class:

{Ok, admit it, that's kinda cool}

But I have learned a lot. Mostly, I am thankful that I have the opportunity to be in grad school and better myself professionally.