A Teacher's Work Is Never Done

I'm convinced that it takes a special kind of person to be a teacher. I often wonder if I fit the bill.

As I sit here and write this, I glance at the clock and realize that to get the proper amount of sleep, I should've been in bed an hour ago. Was that even possible? Of course not. Why? Because I've spent the past few hours working on door decorations for a classroom that is only partially mine. You see, I'm a permanent sub as music teacher at a small Catholic school, but the job is only two days a week and the classroom is shared by the band instructor as well as the After School Care program. Next week is Catholic School's Week, and the theme is about service. I won't even need to come in next week since no one is having music class, but I thought that I should decorate at least a little bit to fit in with the rest of the school. I finally decided on something simple: the words "Catholic Schools Celebrate Service" surrounded by a few pictures from my Jamaica mission trips. One would think that such a simple idea could be thrown together in a half hour...but that was clearly not the case. Even after I'd returned from Wal Mart with the supplies, I had to trace letters onto poster board, cut out those letters, laminate them, cut them out again, choose pictures, assemble them in a Word doc, print them, laminate them, and cut them out too. All in all, that took me about three hours. After that, I figured I'd better check over my lesson plans to figure out what I'm even teaching tomorrow!

Do people in other professions put this much time into their work? Let's be honest here; as a part time permanent sub at a small Catholic school, it's fair to say that I'm not getting paid very much. I frequently take my work home with me and constantly think about what I've just taught and what I'm going to teach next. I really do put a lot of time and effort into my job, and I know I'm not the only one. I'm sure that millions of teachers across the country and the world have worried about their students; they've sacrificed sleep (and maybe sanity) to prepare lessons, get decorations together, check papers, and many other things that go along with this profession.

I often wonder if I'm cut out for this. Do I have what it takes to make it in this profession without suffering burnout like many teachers do? I guess only time will tell. For now, all I can do is work extra hard and push myself to be a better educator.