Why I teach...

A good part of the reason we have our YouCaring page is because we are teachers. We are teachers with piles of student loans, no income in the summer, three of our own babies, year's worth of bad luck, continued salary freezes, and year's worth of bad decisions to spend our money on our students because SOMEONE has to. So, I figure I should tell you why I teach.


The response I typically receive when I tell people I teach high schoolers in Milwaukee is a mix between sheer horror and what I think might be utter disbelief- or maybe it's still sheer horror.

We all know, especially here in Wisconsin, that teaching is a profession that is under fire, underappreciated, under scrutiny, under _______, go ahead- fill in the blank. And I have often asked myself, without being able to find a good answer, as to why I continue to do it every year.

If you know me, you know how much of my life is dedicated to my kids (meaning my students) and how hard it was for me to find some balance between my kids and my babies. I am still struggling with that. All of my kids need me, and that's why I keep going back.

Now, I could go on to talk about the thousands of reasons our kids need me and you and this city to stop working against them and start working for them, but instead, I'm going to get silly and tell you the most hilarious of moments that make me able to get up and do it again every morning. Because my kids can be really funny- or really terribly annoying and so naughty that I can't help but laugh at them.

My first year of teaching, I was just beginning Romeo and Juliet... I asked my class what they knew about the play and got nothing. So, I switched gears and said "What do you know about Juliet"
The first and only hand up replied at the top of his lungs "She was a virgin!" True story, kid. I still laugh at that. What was better was that his final exam included answering the same question with "she died happy ;) "

One of the things you get to do as a teacher is go on "voluntary" field trips- some that last multiple nights and even weeks! When you spend days upon days with your kids, you learn a lot- actually too much- about them. Like, you learn too late that a kid can't swim. I TOLD him DO NOT JUMP IN THE DEEP END IF YOU CAN'T SWIM! Well, I guess he didn't hear me because he jumped. I save lives in all kinds of ways.

On those same trips, you learn how to "tape" kids into their rooms. You also learn way too much about them by walking the hallways late at night to ensure they are still in their rooms. Like, you learn which teachers they think are super hot (along with other horrifying information), which then makes it really difficult to ever look at them the same way in your class again.

Two years ago, a student who clearly took after his father went on a rant about how great Scott Walker was and how he was the man who was going to hold the American Dream together... I, and the rest of the class, then continued to laugh hysterically as he ended his rant by dropping his pencil on the floor and smashing his face into the desk chair in front of him when he bent down to get it. (I know, I'm an ass.) For the record, I did ask if he was okay after I had cleared the tears of laughter from my eyes.

Last year, I was teaching Gatsby, which uses roman numerals for its chapters. When I realized hardly anyone knew how to read them, I had to give a mini lesson. My "Beavis and Butthead" in the back were arguing- I asked them if they had questions. "Yah, what language is this in?" Before I could answer, Beavis responds "SPANISH, DUMBASS!" Oh lordy... teaching takes so much patience!

Since I'm mentioning Gatsby, let me also mention how fun it is to teach that book to urban kids who write essays about what a "thot" Myrtle is. We can't forget the argument that ensues when we watch the new movie which includes Jay-Z on the soundtrack and some kids suddenly believe people of the 20s were listening to his music........ hello? Thankfully I don't have to intervene in that argument as my wiser group of students sets them straight. I'm too busy thinking about how beautiful Leo is anyway.

This year, well, this has been a tough start of a year, but we have had a few moments that have at least made me crack a smile. I never thought I'd literally have to tell a student to "please put your selfie stick away!" during class, to ask a senior student to "please remove your hand from your pants" (apparently he was wearing compression shorts for the football game and felt the middle of class was a good time to adjust them) or "please stop licking the table" of which I'm still not sure why said student was licking the table.

Now, my kids can be serious goofballs from time to time, but they are amazing. They are incredible young people who beat the odds day after day. They are my inspiration to keep doing what I do- even though I could find a million other jobs that would be far less demanding than this one. So, as I sit here with that disgusting "Monday is coming" nausea in the pit of my stomach, or maybe that's just this stomach bug my students shared with me, I know it will be a good day because someone, at least one of my 150+ students, will make me laugh at least once tomorrow.

Now tell me, what makes your job as exciting as mine? ;)