“I just love being in the classroom so much, I think I genuinely don't know what else I would do as a profession.”
“IT’S THE KIDS, BUT ALSO THE COMMUNITY”
“I love teaching. I'm very lucky in that—I've always wanted to be a teacher. I love being with the kids. I love the puzzle of creating lesson plans. I'm an elementary school teacher because I love teaching all of the subjects—like, I'm in the middle of planning my poetry lesson but also looking up scientific method worksheets on Teachers Pay Teachers on my computer screen. And I think (…) I ended up in elementary because I love that. And I love this age and I love how fun and silly it is. I ended up in 4th grade because I love the fact that we can still sing a skip-counting-by-3 song, but also write five-paragraph essays. That's the fun part.”
“We all get in it for the kids—that's why you get into teaching. And one of the reasons why I've stayed at my school is because I get so close with these families. I saw a 7th grader, a 6th grader, an 8th grader and a 1st grader today that all know my name, that all love me because I've taught all of these families for so long. That was just this afternoon.”
“But the reason why I stayed, honestly, through Covid (…) is because of the people here. The reason why I'm still here at this specific school is my coworkers and the community that we have (…) Honestly, if I didn't have that—there are multiple times where obviously we all consider, ‘Should I stay in this profession?’, especially with the mass exodus that's going on right now. But one of the reasons why I stay, specifically at this school, is because I know what a strong adult community we have, where I can literally rely on anybody for anything. I walked past a second grade teacher today, and I was like, ‘Oh, it's a really hard day today’ and she's like, ‘Do you want a hug?’”
“That's why I keep teaching—it’s the kids, but also the community.”