“My first ten years of teaching, I left the building as soon as I could (…) and coached [at a nearby college], so I literally had to shut it off. I didn’t have a choice (…) I had to leave and turn it off and go up there and focus on 20 year-olds. And at the same time, when I was in the classroom, I couldn't be thinking about football. I had to help this 10 year-old with the math.”
“There are bad [moments]—that one parent comment or that one bad behavior incident, or that other teacher who said that thing in the conference—but they seem to be short lived. It'll be like that one day, and then I'll go weeks without anything.”
“I do think when I was in the classroom as a classroom teacher it was much different. You were always on. You were always stimulated. Everything came back to you (…) ‘Do you know what your student did at recess?’ I got so sick of hearing that. I would say, ‘What did OUR student do? Aren't they ours? I can guess, because they've probably done it in here and they've probably done it all year. So do you want me to take a guess? Do you want me now to go in and start yelling at a kid where I have no idea what they did and I wasn't there? Is that what you want? Or do you just want me to know?’ (….) It drove me wild. ‘Oh, you know what they did at Special?’ ‘Do you know what they did at lunch?’ ‘Do you know what they did after school?’ ‘Do you know what I saw him doing this weekend?’ It's just—you were the one. Now I'm a Reading teacher and I've got a schedule, and it's a full schedule. I still have a prep and lunch, like the classroom teachers. But I am in this class and then I'm out after forty minutes, maybe sometimes an hour, and I'm walking in the hall, seeing some new people, and then I'm in this new class—I mean it's not new, but I haven't been there all day every day—and I'm seeing new faces and kids are excited to see me, and the teacher is excited because now they can maybe take a step back as I lead the group (…) and it's just totally different. I'm not always on. I don't have to go back to my office and read an email about so-and-so not finishing their peanut butter and jelly, or this kid being mean online—because it all goes to the classroom teacher. I get the ‘Thank you so much for helping our kid read.’”