My name is "The Grinch"

I have had a lot of teacher friends over the years and they have all claimed to be complete Grinches around Christmas time. I never fully appreciated to psychotic tendencies of middle schoolers around the holidays until this week! Wow! They never cease to surprise me! This week, I have felt, on several occasions, like I wanted to quit, and questioned my desire to be a teacher in the first place. If you know me at all, however, you know I'm far too tenacious to give up because of a measly challenge! But, to ensure that I was not in the pit of despair for too long, the Lord placed several other people in my life to show me that it's all worth it! First of all, on what I felt was one of the worst days of my teaching career, a very good teacher friend of mine called me and we shared stories and she reassured me that all teachers, from novice to expert, feel that way around the holidays. She also emailed me some pieces from her journal from her first year teaching that seemed all too fitting. She had had almost the exact same experience with some of her students as I am currently having. That made me feel a lot better! Today, the student custodian who was cleaning my room informed me that he was aware of several students who thought I was a great teacher and I was so much fun. (Keep in mind that these were all seventh graders who are nice to me, so I can be nice to them! I would not expect the same response from my eighth graders!). I have felt very appreciated in the last few days by a variety of students, which makes the stress of teaching these crazies a little more bareable. The bottom line is, life is crazy, stressful and has its moments where it is slightly less than enjoyable, but overall, I am still a happy camper and still typically leave the school with a smile on my face (whether the smile is because I love my students or because I excited to be done with them for the day, or simply because it is all I can do to not cry is still yet to be determined!)