I recently saw an ad campaign to promote the teaching profession. The idea behind the ad is that all other jobs are boring compared to what teachers do every day. In the ad, teachers share stories of something exciting that happened with their students, while the non-teachers recount some dull mishap. As someone who doesn’t need to be convinced that teaching is exciting, I found the ad fun (and a bit misleading). The ad brought back to memory one of my favorite stories from teaching. I tell this story every chance I get, and it’s the story I rely on when teaching challenges me. Every teacher needs a story to keep them motivated. Here’s mine…
While completing my undergraduate courses in preparation to enter the teacher credentialing program at my university, I worked as an instructional aide in an elementary school near me. It was truly one of the best professional experiences I ever had! During my work day, I rotated to several different classes. I did everything from running copies to meeting with small groups for intervention. The teachers I worked with knew I was studying to become a teacher, so they allowed me opportunities to really work with the kids. One of the classes I worked with was a first-grade class. Their teacher was dynamic and active. Students were always engaged and curious! One day, I came to class with laryngitis. My voice was nearly gone! One of the students asked me what happened to my voice. Without thinking that they wouldn’t understand this figure of speech, I replied, “Oh, I just have a frog in my throat.” Immediately, I had a crowd of seven-year-olds trying to look down my throat to get a glimpse of the frog! Trying to stifle our giggles, we explained that there really wasn’t a frog in my throat, and that it was just a saying for when our voices aren’t working right. The crowd disappointedly dispersed except for one. He walked up to me with a thoughtful expression. He was so determined to solve my problem. He right up to me and asked, “Ms. G., if you have a frog in your throat, why don’t you just burp and pop that sucker right out?”
This story makes me laugh every time I think of it! I think of this story every time I have laryngitis. I think of this story every time the weight of being a teacher gets me down. Teaching really is the most exciting job with the very best stories. We need to hold on to the memories and the stories to keep us going sometimes. What stories from teaching do you hold on to?
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