Almost The End

Anyone who follows my Twitter account might be familar with my sometimes negative attitude towards my job. Some past tweets:

- Children's joyful voices wafting up from recess are giving me a headache. Weekend vaca can't come soon enough.
- If another child asks Miss Betsy yet another repetitive question, Miss Betsy will punch that child in the face.
- I think I wake up every Monday and think "I don't want to go to school today."

Yup, I am mentally ticking off the remaining days (there are eight). Some reasons: Half of the teachers don't take me seriously, and that attitude trickles down to their students. I despise planning lessons, making worksheets, and dealing with the finicky school printer and/or photocopier. I never studied or learned how to be a teacher. That lack of experience continues to be a challenge. Oh yeah. And one of my students is a thief.

Based on the evidence above, it would make sense to assume that I am so ready to be done and done. I am. But… Okay… I can't actually believe I am saying this. I might miss it just a little bit.

For every little brat who still can't write the date correctly in English, there are three kids who rock. There are kids who are excited to learn and kids who ask me intelligent questions. There are kids who kiss me on the cheek to say hello and kids who write me little notes to tell me they missed me over vaction.

When it comes down to it, I like kids. They have funny kid personalities and say funny kid things. Like the one who asked me if I flew home to Chicago every night after school. Or another who asked me if I could be the new substitute teacher, because he thought the current sub was mean and lame. When I arrive in the morning, I can't deny that 50 kids screaming 'ELLO!!! with their little French accents always, without fail, makes me smile.

Yeah, this year hasn't been half bad. It's been challenging, but no day has ever been the same. Sorry I frequently complained about you, kids. But seriously. You can be such evil fiends sometimes.