The signs of the teaching profession

I used to get carsick on the way to church when I was growing up. The thirty minute drive was too much for my tender stomach, I guess. As an adult, I moved to Austria and quickly had to get over the queasiness of travel. I had a forty-five minute commute on the subway, and as an English teacher with mounds of papers to grade, I simply could not sacrifice that much time to staring out the window. So, I conditioned my system to handle the motion and became able to grade papers seated forward, riding backwards, and even standing up.

Back in the States during one Thanksgiving Break, I was on a long car ride to eat turkey and dressing with family. Of course with papers to grade and thankful for the many hours in Austria’s tunnel system getting over motion sickness, I grabbed my red pen and started grading papers in the passenger seat. I don’t recall the specific assignment, but I vividly remember how bad the essays were. Exhausted, I remarked to my family, “Please open up all the windows so these essays can fly out!”

That’s the sign of a frustrated teacher.

One of my co-workers was in a nasty car accident earlier this week. She was on her way to work before the sun broke and was in intensive care before first period. Trapped inside her vehicle, her first call was to 911, and her second to our principal. She was getting her classes squared away before the EMTs even arrived. And from her hospital bed the next day, she was on the phone with coworkers, double checking that her classes were covered. She even arranged for a family member to head to the salvage yard to retrieve a set of quizzes from the back seat of her totaled vehicle so she could finish grading them.

That’s the sign of a dedicated teacher.

I am quite willing to admit my shortcomings as a teacher. There are plenty of times when I come across an essay from a particularly challenged student writer and shuffle his paper to the end of the stack, thinking procrastination will make the essay better. I also confess that on occasion I have “forgotten” to take some tests home to grade so I could feel better about watching my favorite TV show that night.

That’s the reality of a teacher.

I think I could speak for most teachers and say how awesome it would be to clock out at 3:30 every day. To leave the stacks of papers on our desks and relax in the evening would be magical. And imagine letting go for the evening the matters of the heart, not to think about the kids who struggle against insurmountable odds. Yeah, that would be neat to leave those things behind when we shut our classroom door for the day.

But that’s not the reality of this profession.

So on a daily basis, teachers choose to grade mounds of papers, we choose to worry about our classes when we’re gone, and we choose to care about the warm little bodies that sit in our desks … because that is the reality of a good teacher.

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 4:22 PM with the headline "The signs of the teaching profession."