Last Day At Benton

Today should be a sad day for me. It is my last day of teaching kindergarten here at Benton Elementary School, in Independence. I have been here six years, and had many interesting experiences. People are always asking me, "won't you miss teaching?" The answer is, yes and no. I will definately miss all my friends and collegues at Benton. They are the kind of teachers that I strived to be. They put up with so much CRAP and still love those kids and families. They are doing their lives callings- and I really admire that. We have had some fun times together- laughed together and cried together. I will miss them tremendously. I will also miss MOST of the kids. They do say the dardest things sometimes... I love the part of teaching when a kid FINALLY gets it- something you have been working on over and over. I love seeing their special talents and trying to figure out what kind of person they will become. But then there are the reasons for leaving... So much that teacher do is not in their contract- just extra hours that no one is getting paid for. You would think that it would work out pretty well with having kids, but honestly, there are a ton of night-time obligations, and that whole "summers off" thing is really a myth. The whole process of teaching is not really what I thought it would be either. You don't really get to be creative, and think of what would be the most fun way to teach something. It is all planned out for you, and you are supposed to follow the curriuculum without wavering. Eww. I like to be creative and fun and silly. I like to be the first person to share a really amazing book with a kid and see their eyes light up! There were times when I would read a book outloud to my class, and at the end they would spontaneously burst into applause! Now that is fun! But most of the time you are forced to read generic crap to them, and do pointless worksheets and teach some really silly things (do kindergarteners really need to know about scarcity and opportunity cost???) I feel really underappreciated as a teacher. Most of the parents don't respect me, consider me a babysitter, think that I am "out to get" their kid. Or else they ignore me all together. There are some parents that I see maybe once in the whole school year. And don't even get me started on documentation for kidnergarten IEPS. So, I am looking to the future, and looking forward to change. But a piece of my heart will always be at Benton.