I told three of my students a huge secret this week.
See, I have a student teacher this semester. She’s great. She’s a former student of mine, so I might be a bit biased, but from what I can tell, she is going to be a fabulous teacher.
While she teaches my morning classes, I’ve kept busy. I grade, I plan my afternoon classes, I work on other projects. Next week I’m going to take my MacBook to the journalism room 3rd hour and have the video yearbook staff teach me iMovie (when they aren’t working on their own projects, of course).
But here’s the secret: I miss teaching. And I mean, I REALLY miss teaching. I miss the crazy sound bites from my students. I miss the intriguing class discussions. I miss the grading. Wait. No, I don’t. But I do miss my students.
Three times this week, I’ve run into students from the class I had many classroom management difficulties with. Great kids–just can’t be quiet. Ever. Each conversation with those three students went something like this:
“Ms. Rowse! I haven’t seen you in forever!”
“It’s been 2 weeks. Not forever.”
“Well, it feels like forever. Do you miss us?”
“Of course I do!”
“No you don’t. We’re awful. You’re probably happy to not have us anymore.”
“Let me tell you a secret. But don’t tell anyone, because I kinda like my meanish rep.”
And then I half-whisper: “I love teaching. I miss it. And I miss my students.“
I love seeing my student teacher grow in the profession, and I’m lucky to be part of her experience. And truthfully, it is kind of nice only teaching two classes a day. But I wasn’t prepared for missing my students, that’s for sure.
Don’t tell anyone, okay?
