Attitude of Gratitude - Blogger Challenge, Day 1

November 1: What are the best aspects of being a teacher?

I've been an educator for a long time, since 1977, and always the best part of being a teacher has been connecting with kids. I started out as a librarian, and as a librarian, I've been lucky enough to connect kids with books. I've read a lot of books aloud to classes of kids, and it's been my pleasure to introduce literature to lots of kids.It's a blast reading to little kids, making Franklin or Clifford the Big Red Dog so exciting that little kids are on the edge of the story rug, and leaning in to hear more. I love it when a student comes up to tell me how much they loved the latest book they checked out from the library, and when kids recommend books for me to buy for the library. People do not understand that possibly one of the best jobs in a school is that of librarian.

I have to confess that I didn't really want to teach; I was originally hired to be the librarian, and really did not want to teach any kind of regular class. It took the district a few years, but I did end up teaching, starting with middle school, and now, somehow, high school. In a small, rural K-12 district, it's hard to escape the inevitable. What I enjoy the most about teaching is when a kid gets it. The light bulb moment. The Ah-Ha. In my history class, it's questions that tell me connections are being made. When I taught math, it was the look of joy when it finally made sense. The other day one of my history students told me that she loved that I do a This Day in History fact every day - she talks about them at home. I love that!

There are many moments at school that aren't always fun, but thank goodness there are so many more that are wonderful, and make it hard to think about walking away someday.