New Year's Eve

The fiscal year for my employer resets tomorrow, as it does for many, many other public schools throughout the country. So, we're at a financial New Year. It's also a psychological one as teachers like me turn the corner from our old rosters and old courses toward a new year and a new set of challenges.

So, why do I do this? Why do I teach?

I love the energy of the classroom. I love the rush of being on stage with the answers and the ideas of where we are going. I get great satisfaction from seeing how my students grow. I still enjoy the challenge of crafting the kind of lessons that leads students toward an "ah-ha" moment. I enjoy that this job affords me a summer to recharge my batteries and to spend time with the two children with whom I have to measure my time during the ten months that constitutes my work calendar. And I'm grateful that it's an occupation that allows me the kind of income to support my family, and position my own children so that they will likely have an even fuller, richer life than I have.

So in the New Year I resolve to fight harder to make every line I just wrote even more true.

Good night.