The Tall Girl Teaches: Ten Reasons I Love Teaching

1. Everyone is thinking it, so I might as well say it right off the bat - the holidays really are a great part of teaching. I love having two months off in the summer. I love family time at Christmas. I love weekends.

two months of this? yes please!

2. Collaboration - Sometimes desk and cubicle jobs can feel like working in a bubble. Not school! I love working with other teachers, sharing ideas and techniques and working together on cross-classroom projects. (This is, of course, school and colleague-dependent!)

3. Kids are interesting. They're creative and funny. I love hearing their interpretations and takes on life. It's fun to explore stories and ideas with them. Did you know you can kill zombies with a hair dryer?   

4. I love routine, and how much more routine-y can you get than a school day?

pennies for peace - everyone is listening!

5. No homework, thank you very much! I like my work day to end at the end of the work day. I don't take work home. There are no emergency work phone calls on the weekend or late at night, or email demands after hours.

6. It's active - I walk around 18,000 steps a day!

hiking off the job

i will not tolerate that kind of behaviour!

7. It suits my style - there's no uniform or even a dress code at my school (other than the code of common sense), and while I do miss dressing up for special events, I can show up in anything from jeans and a t-shirt to a smart suit and heels and I'm good to go.

8. Um, I sort of like to be the boss. (Surprise!) At school, I'm in charge of a whole room full of people. They are listening to me. Mostly. It's kind of scary, but also pretty great. And being watched and listened to makes me extra aware of my own behaviour.

9.I get paid to read. PAID. To READ. And to share my love of reading with others. Reading is such an important part of educating, and my heart smiles when a "non-reader" discovers books.

10. I also get paid to sing, play games, do yard duty, lesson plan, go to meetings, discipline, dry tears, clean up messes, and teach difficult concepts. I love the variety.

Are you a teacher? What do you love about your job?