So why am I still here?

This is a question I ask myself and that many people often ask me.  Mostly, it's because of the kids and also because of the staff.  While the kids have been known to drive me crazy, I have been teaching many of them for almost 4 years.  I have watched them transform from little 3rd graders into young adults.  They know me and are comfortable with me, and that is important.  It helps me reach them when I am teaching, and it makes what I do more meaningful and enjoyable.  I got 4 Christmas cards from students and I don't even have my own class!  

The staff is also why I stay.  There are some very dedicated and talented teachers in the school, and while not every day is peachy, I know that it could be a lot worse somewhere else.  I don't go to work to make friends, so it's more important to me that the work that I do is enjoyable and that I feel that I am really teaching. Which I do.

It still is depressing to walk up the stairs every morning past dirty steps, curse words written on the walls and peeling paint, and then enter my classroom where a strange smell is wafting in from the heating duct.  I just remind myself that while this is my place of employment, this is also the place where my kids spend most of their day, too.  For some of them, it's preferable to home, and for many of them, we teachers give the only hugs and kind words they get all day.  

So for now, I'm still here.


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