“[It’s about] connecting with kids. And then, after I connect with the students, I work in the to-do's as far as what I want them to do (…) I if I have a relationship with the kids, the rest seems to be a lot easier. So that's always my main goal. Right now, I'm teaching kids to read, at whatever level that looks like for them. That's another part I like about this Reading teacher gig. I get to meet them where they are and I didn't get to do that always in the classroom. It was ‘Well, here's where they should be. Teach this and then everybody else might help out or they'll adjust.’ Right now, it’s ‘This kid needs more fluency. Bang! Put them in a group for fluency. This kid needs more confidence. Boom! Give him more confidence. This kid needs phonics, letter combinations—so I get to meet them where they are. And then (…) I see their growth. So I really enjoy that.”
“Seeing them make progress, get things. It clicks and they look at you. And you're like, ‘Yeah, that's what we're talking about.’”
“It's also not academic. They'll say things or tell me things that are funny or that even though I've been teaching fifteen years I had never thought of, or I hadn't looked at it that way or asked that question, or other kids haven't. So those connections that I have with kids and and with colleagues. Checking in with teachers and staff (…) having little inside jokes, giving looks across the room.”
“I like going into teaching like I'm on fire for six hours and then, at 2 o'clock—which I consider pretty early—I'm able to pause, get some stuff done for the next day, run some errands, pick up my kids, and then start that second job at home. I I like the summers. I like having vacations. I like the school calendar. I like the whole piece of it. That's why I teach.”