"I never thought I'd be the teacher who..."

I was reading a Parenting magazine the other night and laughed out loud when I identified with a couple of these quotes.

I never thought I'd be the mom who...
  • ...doesn't cook when her husband goes out of town.
  • ...doesn't brush her children's hair every single day.

It made me think, what if you substituted the word "Spanish teacher" for "mom"? Here's some of mine.

I never thought I'd be the teacher who...

  • ...doesn't brush her own hair before teaching. Look at my hair in this picture--ack!
  • ...gets e-mails from her students wondering when they're going to get their homework graded.
  • ...makes up the lesson plan in her head while walking from my office to the classroom.
  • ...writes on the chalkboard even when I teach in the College of Business building that has all the fancy technology.
  • ...momentarily forgets what the capital of Paraguay is.
  • ...hasn't read a book in Spanish in longer that she will actually admit!
  • ...doesn't have the Spanish equivalent of every English word on the tip of her tongue when a student asks in class. (My favorite? Many years ago a student asked me in class, "¿Cómo se dice walrus en español?" Could you answer that?)

But here's another category.

I'm glad I'm the Spanish teacher who...

  • ...knows all my students' names by week 3 of the semester.
  • ...uses community service learning so both my students and my community partners benefit.
  • ...truly loves to go to class and be with my students.
  • ...incorporates Spanish into my every-day life, even though I'm not a native-speaker.

Leave a comment and tell me what kind of teacher you're glad you are or never thought you'd be! If you're a student, tailor the question to fit. :)

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