The Rewards of Teaching!:It's Not About the Money, Honey!

Don't get me wrong. I like getting paid to teach. Now if someone offered to cover the mortgage ...

On the last day of school, I walked this group of students out to the buses for the last time. I gave each of them a hug and my words of advice/ mini-motivational speech. The teachers stood and waved goodbye as the buses pulled off. Michael, one of my students, opened his window, and screamed, "Bye Mrs. M!" I laughed because Michael was never that boisterous.

As I  returned, teary-eyed, to my classroom, the writing on the board caught my eye. "See you later! You are the best teacher ever!" Man, oh, man they can get you,can't they? I didn't erase it. Even when I rolled the last box out of my room, (I have to change classrooms), I refused to erase it.

Then I got home, and read the cards the Art teacher always has the kids write at the end of the year. One of them was from a kid I wrote about it in one of my posts. The part that really got my eyes wet was when he said, "When I got on your neverse(sic), you stuck with me and did not give up."

Why do I love teaching? What's my reward? (And you better not even think it's high test scores!)

 I love it because when I see a message on the board, a thank you in a letter, or a former student's email, I know that somehow I made a difference. Who can ask for a better reward than that?