I am plodding my way through late work, trying to assure myself that these grades for the first semester are as accurate as they can be. At the same time I have the Packers-Seahawks game on, which draws my attention now and then. Upstairs, a mixture of seasoned ground beef, onions, and cabbage waits for dough to rise so I can craft bierocks. I need to mix the broiled chicken breasts and bacon I prepared this morning into pasta salad for our ELAFL team lunch tomorrow. In short, I have plenty of tasks before me right now. So, naturally, I went on a bike ride earlier, and I have chosen to close out buhlerdocs and open up Blogger for a little while. Makes sense.
This week, I worked on a film for when we begin our spring morning workouts. I love working on those videos. The thought went through my head that I could have done that for a living, maybe working my way up the ladder, squinting and sweating over thousands of hours of sports or news footage, perhaps fooling someone long enough to let me into an NFL Films office or ESPN studio. It could have happened. Or not.
I mentioned that to my Dad. The fact is, I could have done something else. I am fairly intelligent and enjoy putting myself into endeavors, working hard to complete a project or task, tapping into what creativity I can muster, calling forth the skills that great teachers and role models have managed to massage through my thick skull. I think I could have found a path that would have allowed me to make a fair living, probably much more money than I make now. My Dad cleared things up though, as he has a tendency to do. "But you are doing what you want to be doing. What you love to do. What you are supposed to do."
Dad tends to be right when he says something. This time really is no different. Despite the fact that it seems as if every day I read another article about the gloom and doom that sits on the horizon for those of us in education, I am doing what I am meant to be doing.
Do you know what keeps so many teachers from going that direction? What allows people in the profession to keep rolling in each morning, often 30-45 minutes before "contract time" starts? What keeps them up late on a Wednesday so they can celebrate completing a set of papers that need to be graded or a test that needed to be written? It is so simple that many outside of education cannot understand it until they think of it in terms of their business. It is what we are supposed to be doing. It is what some people refer to as the "why" we must all identify and always keep in mind. Seeing a kid light up when she "gets it", watching a "Sweathog" cross the stage on a May Saturday, reading a letter or twitter message from a former student who found his way and his own passion, learning you made a connection with a student who needed to connect with someone, or getting a hug from a player who overcame setback after setback to win a championship gives a teacher the same reward that closing a deal for a Fortune 500 company, seeing a patient walk out of the hospital doors with loved ones, hearing a song you penned stream from the radio, or seeing a new model of automobile roll off the assembly line for the first time does for each of those professionals. Would it be nice to receive a little more in each check along with that reward? Sure. I would not turn it down. However, when you are doing what are supposed to do, what you have a passion for, and you can put food on the table doing it, you are wealthier than many people who cash comparatively large checks and hate their lives every day. In addition to that, do you know what we, as educators, get to do each and every day in some way, large or small? We get to help young people discover their own "why". We have the opportunity to help them develop the tools to not only identify their "whys", but also to become successful in those endeavors. How neat is that? (In case you are unsure: it is pretty dang neat.)
Why do I like making those videos? It is because those players are my kids. Our kids. My why. It is just that simple.
Sure, I could do something else. But why?
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