There's Got To Be An Easier Way

Sometimes I just think "there's got to be an easier way to make a living". We had a fun day at our school just the other day. It's a day to promote school spirit and for the students and teachers to related to each other on another level and get to know each other better at the beginning of the school year. The day is filled with fun activities including a BBQ for lunch, which is not an easy task with 500 students. I was one of the coordinators for this event again this year. The planning, as you can imagine, takes a considerable amount of time, for which we are not paid. The day of is spent running around making sure everything is in place and all the activities flow smoothly, which can be a challenge in a junior high school.

To get to the point on this day I had to tolerate a verbal assault from a disgruntled student. He wasn't happy about just about everything that took place that day and didn't mind screaming, I mean sharing his opinion with every teacher that happened by. Apparently, by the time I crossed his path he had had a belly full of being annoyed and other such nonsense and figured he would just let loose. Now, out of about 500 students, this was the only one voicing complaints (in an incredibly rude and disrespectful manner I might add), but yet it is the one that just sticks with you for some reason.

It is very difficult in a situation like this, where so many staff members had put in extra time and effort to host a great event such as we had, not to let loose on the offending student as he had on everyone else. So I brought him into the office, only to be barraged en route by continued insults which had graduated into profanities and veiled threats that weren't very veiled and I thought to myself there must be an easier way to make a living and began to consider some options. I was still contemplating my options when I ran into a student whom I have had the pleasure to teach for the last 2 years. I like to call her Miss Dimples. She struggles academically and her parents (who are very loving) are not wealthy enough to hand over all the amenities that some of our teenagers have come to expect these days, but she is honest, and vibrant and an incredibly hard worker. She looked at me with with a smile on her lips and in her eyes and said, "Miss, this is my favourite day all year. I always look forward to it and you know next year when I'm in High School I'm really going to miss it, but most of all I'm going to miss all the teachers in this building, they're the best."

As you can imagine this brought me out of my funk and made me realise, there is an easier way to make a living, but I can't think of one that can be more rewarding. Thanks Miss Dimples for putting things into perspective for me and for not letting one bad apple spoil the barrel.

It's Crazy Isn't It?

Jayjay