A Different Kind of Teacher

Tomorrow is Family Fun Day for my kids and thier families. I truely enjoy this day and this time of year. As I think about all of the craziness that tomorrow will bring, I am ready for it. I still feel a little queezy from the bug I caught from one of the kids last week but I am still looking forward to this day. I also know that tomorrow will also bring lots of complaints and griping and just sheer unhappiness from some of the other teachers. But here is my thought... Some of these teachers have been teaching less time than I have and some of them more. But the bottom line is that we all know that being at this school, this day comes around the same time of year every year. And to complain and flat out bitch (excuse my lingo) but it is sense-less and it dampers everyone else's day. But alas, you let no one still your joy! So with my smile on, my lunch packed and my joy intact, I will mingle with the parents that I dont get to see very often.

Also things are very different as an assistant teacher. At the school that I am at currently, and let me prefrence by saying I am going into my fourth year at this school and OBVIOUSLY I love the program, the families and some of the teachers BUT this school, I've never seen anything like it- they dont offer many opportunities for paernt envolvement. For instance, there is "the car line"- which is a circle of cars who pull up and various teachers/ admin staff open the car doors, let the children out and the parent drives off into the sunrise. It is also this way for dismissal. Now I am not knocking this layout but as a teacher, I enjoyed when the parents brought their children to the classroom and saw pictures on the wall and we were able to chat and form a relationship. We talked about the family, not just the child in my class and we actually enjoyed one another. Not so much at this school. Again, I love the program, the families and some of the teachers. But it feels very cold. The only time the parents come in is for confrences, when something is wrong or one or two parents will drop off thier children at the playground and maybe chat for a little bit. I just wish I could incorporate the love and the welcoming feeling that I have felt in other schools into this school. And agian, it is different being an assistant teacher. No one advocates for the assistants. THe parents still enjoy you but you are not as hands on as I, as a Teacher am used too.
I also have to remember that this school year was the hardest school year that I have ever been through. So I hope that this isnt contaminating my outlook-which it probably is. So I am looking forward to a NEW school year with a new teacher and by the grace of God I will walk into a classroom with my name on the door with the title Teacher beside it in a private school. Yes I could go back to daycare, yes I could go back to working all year with out a summer break and be back in the position that I want to be ing but that is not what I want for my life. I am trusting God and this procwss because I believe that it is humbling me for when I have the tilte of Teacher again, never to treat my assistants in the disrespectful, degrading way that I have been treated this school year. Thank God that I have forgivness in my heart instead of unforgivness. Peace!