This post was written by Lindsey Hiatt, a FACS Teacher at Carson High School!
I am not much of a writer, although I love a good book every now and again. I have been racking my brain for the past few days on what to even write about, until Friday afternoon it hit me. “I am going to write about my students! “ Since I started teaching, (going on three years now) my goal is to make a difference in my students’ life. Even if it was just one student, I would be happy. After these past few weeks, I have been extremely busy, stressed, emotional, and exhausted. I began questioning myself, “Why am I still teaching?” The real reason finally hit me Friday. My students are the reason I continue to be a teacher.
Monday did not start off very well. It seemed like everything just kept going wrong. It was just one thing after the other. My students in my first block knew I was having a rough morning. And them, being the kind hearted people they are, they were so good to me. They asked me if I was okay, if they could help me with anything, or if they could do anything for me. They continued to do their warm-up and kept themselves busy while I got myself together and prepared for the start of class. I went on with class, focussing on my students and not worrying about the small stuff that didn’t go as I had planned.
Then came Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I began to stress more because I was trying to get everything in place for our field trip to Johnson and Wales University on Friday. I was planning on taking all three of my classes, Foods I and my two Foods II classes. I had already collected everyone’s money and permission slips and had everything ready on my end and just needed to confirm everything with JWU.
Friday morning, I was so worried that something was going to go wrong with this field trip. I was worried the students would change their mind and wouldn’t want to go, the bus wouldn’t be available, or just something was not going to go right.
After the 8:30 am bell had rang, all the students were in my class, dressed nicely, excited, and ready to go. We loaded the bus, traveled to JWU safely, toured the campus, had an awesome lunch there at the school, had some good laughs, and then the students wanted to go to the bookstore before we loaded the bus to head back to Carson.
While we were in the book store, I got a kick out of the kids spending their money. Any money they had brought with them, they just had to spend it. After spending all of their money, we headed back to the bus. On our way home, the students talked about how much fun they had and what a good experience the trip was for them. I sat with different students and had some really good conversations with them, hearing their life stories, or just hearing them talk about themselves and what they want to do in their future. While enjoying the ride home with my students, I began checking my emails. I had received an email from another teacher giving me a shout out because one of my students that I was a mentor for had did an awesome job on their senior presentation and really knew their stuff and that I had really made an impact on them during their time at Carson. After reading that email and enjoying the bus ride home, I just thought to myself, “What a way to end my week!”
When we got back to Carson, it was the end of the school day. Everyone scattered once the bell rang. About an hour later, I began my drive home. My thoughts began to recap the day and that’s when it hit me. “My students are the reason I teach and the reason I will continue to teach!” Seeing them on the field trip, laughing, having a good time, having no care in the world, spending money like it grows on trees, them sharing their stories with me and asking about my family while they tell me about theirs. They were just so happy and it made me realize that I don’t need to worry about the small stuff. Sometimes we need to be like them and enjoy life a little bit more.
I hope that I have made as much as an impact on their lives as they have mine. I truly care about each one of my students and that’s what motivates me to continue my career as a teacher. Just hearing some of their stories about their home lives and seeing how they enjoy being at school really makes me sit back and think how thankful I am to have them in my life and how much more harder that makes me want to work to be the best teacher I can be to them. My students are a blessing to me and my motivation!
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