Before I Was a Mother

Before I was a mother, I was a teacher. In fact, it feels as though that was another lifetime of mine, and in many ways, it was. However, I was fortunate to spend the last three weeks 'working' in my old building in Flushing. I had to tutor an English-language learner (ELL) for eight hours as one of my projects for a graduate class. I'm a middle school English Language Arts (ELA) teacher who has been home raising my children for the past two years. It was a very difficult decision to stay home. I'm a teacher, it's in my veins. To walk away from my career after working so hard to get there was unthinkable, but I did it. I took the advice of some trusted friends and colleagues and I went on childcare leave after the birth of my second child, Grace. For the last three weeks, however, I was back at '200' (the number of my school) working away! I didn't take any preps, as usual, but I did enjoy  lunch with my girlfriends a few times! I worked with a darling young boy named Xiao Miao. He arrived in this country last year from the Jiangxi Province of southern China. Xiao Miao speaks very little English, and I made it my duty to help him in some small way. After knowing him for less than five minutes, I was very fond of him. I looked forward to every tutoring session, as it was a doorway back into my 'old' life. I pushed in with other teachers, and had a few opportunities to be the teacher again. I'm known for being quite the disciplinarian, without having to raise my voice or exercise threats, and I reigned in a few poorly behaved students while I was there. I bond with the kids. We establish boundaries and high expectations. It's that simple. I'm fair and honest and that's all I expect in return, along with a lot of hard work from all parties involved. I know there are some kids out there who 'hated' me, but it was only because I knew they were capable of achieving greatness and I pushed them to get there. I also didn't accept excuses along the way. Many of those kids rose to the occasion, a few opted to really make me work for my pay. One of my more challenging students happened to be walking the hall last week as I was on my way to a class. Initially, I didn't recognize him as he had grown so much, and appeared much older than I remembered him. I knew something was amiss and did the math in my head... He should have been in high school. With as much enthusiasm as I could muster I told him I was happy to see him, and that I loved his long hair style,but the truth was I was sad. I was sad to see him still walking the halls as an eighth grader when he should be off in high school with freedom and fun and friends. He didn't utter a single sound during our encounter. I smiled anyway and walked on. I wonder what he was thinking. I know what I was thinking, I never would have allowed that to happen! If you raise the bar and give students the tools to reach it, they will! This particular child had a lot going on in his life, but that's no excuse to give up and fail. We have to teach our kids to overcome the hardships and obstacles. We have to lead by example. I know it's cliche, but it's that simple.

I'm really looking forward to getting back into the classroom. There are no words to describe what teaching means to me. I was beyond thrilled to be back at work these past few weeks. The sights, sounds and smells of a school building get my blood pumping. Being surrounded by other teachers is like being in a secret club! Teaching children, guiding and nurturing them, is so rewarding! Talking teacher jargon with fellow people who speak and understand the language is true excitement!

So is it accurate to say I miss my job? Certainly. But as I was blabbing away to my husband about all the exciting things I was doing with Xiao Miao I had an epiphany. I've been out of the building for over two years, and yet I walked back in there three weeks ago and picked up right where I left off. I realized nothing changed there. I also realized I didn't loose my teacher mojo. We got a new principal this September, and some of the girls retired, but overall it was exactly the same as when I left in 2008. However, Gracie, my two year old daughter, learned some new words while I was 'at work.' She also formed a new bond with husband, one she only shared with me. Seany, my six year old son, learned that God lost his sheep. I don't know what that means and he was asleep by the time I got home. My husband doesn't know anything about the Bible so he took Sean's word for it. I missed the chance to ask Sean to tell me more and clarify what he was trying to say. I also missed the opportunity to laugh until I cried at the ridiculous statement, and my husband's ignorant acceptance of it as truth. Because, as Sean also told my husband, the Bible is real! I missed hearing Gracie's silly utterances, or seeing the mess she left behind when she opened the spout on the Brita cooler in the fridge and walked away. Okay, I'm lying, I'm very glad I missed that last scene! Sean also missed religion the week before because daddy simply forgot and sent him off for a play date down the street. I was gone for six days, six days over the course of three weeks, and yet I missed so much. The routines we had were derailed. I don't think anyone bathed! Somehow, with two calenders, one being a huge whiteboard on the kitchen wall, appointments were missed, practices were skipped and anarchy reigned. I don't proclaim to be a domestic goddess, far from it to be honest, but I can schedule a squirrel to find nuts! I can schedule the rain and the snow. I keep everyone and everything going. I think the world might stop spinning if I don't write it down and remind it of it's duty! I hope my husband reads this and gets the hint... My point is, I was only gone for a few days and yet things started to go off track around here. I know it's the teacher in me to plan for everything. I have plans for when the plans run out. There will be no idle time in this class! I mean house!

As I mentioned before, I really miss teaching, it's my passion. But more importantly, I never have to say with regret that I missed out on the short time that my children were young. Life is full of regrets, but it's also full of opportunities. Don't miss out on the good things because you were trying to make more money, buy a new car, or a bigger home. Those things will come in time. Time, however, waits for no one. I'm very blessed to have the opportunity to be home with my kids for now. Someday, when I'm ready, I will return to the classroom with the same gusto I had on my first day. I learned so much during my brief tutoring project. I learned it's a lot more difficult to teach English than I ever thought possible. I learned teaching English is definitely the next phase in my teaching career. And I learned that as much as my kids drive me crazy all day long, I miss them terribly when I'm gone!

Vocabulary

disciplinarian- (noun) A person who enforces the rules
muster- (verb) to gather, collect
accurate- (adjective) true, precise, exact
epiphany- (noun) a moment of great or sudden revelation
derailed- (verb) to go astray, off course.
anarchy- (noun) confusion, chaos, disorder; a society without rules or laws
regret- (verb)  to feel sorry or upset about something; disappointed
gusto- (noun) spirit, delight, enthusiasm

Vocabulary Review CLOZE Passage

• Fill in the blanks below with the correct vocabulary word from the list above.

There once was an old teacher who lived in a supply closet. What she lacked in ____________, she made up for in cruelness. She forced every student to memorize facts backwards and forwards, and expected one hundred percent _____________ on her daily exams. She was known as a strict _____________. _______________ had no place in her classroom. As she got older, she began to suffer from burn out. With all the venom and vile she could ____________, she tried to press on. However, her life was ________________ by the ever changing education system. She just couldn't keep up with the newest and latest teaching techniques. One day, a fairy princess principal was appointed to take over her building. The fairy princess principal was so kind and sweet that it made the mean old teacher ill! It didn't take long for that mean old teacher to retire. No one showed up to the mean old teacher's retirement party, not even the mean old teacher herself! No one felt an ounce of ___________ that the mean old teacher was gone. To this day, no one knows where she went, but children swear they can still hear her barking orders when they pass that supply closet...

• Can you think of a good title for this tale? 
• Try to use an adverb in the title.

Grammar Point: Adverbs

Adverbs are an interesting group of words. Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs tell us how, where, when, and in what condition. A helpful hint to remember is that adverbs usually end in -ly. 
Adverbs also make great sentence starters or titles to a story.
Can you change the following words into adverbs?

Example: Nice- Nicely

Quick- ____________
Friend- ____________
Slow- _____________

Now use each of those adverbs in a sentence.

Example: Grace was a nice girl. Grace played nicely with her friends.

In-depth review of adverbs and their functions.

Simple review of adverbs.

Schoolhouse Rock clip on Adverbs