i can't back away from a challenge

Last night was a difficult night for me. Friday night's class is my biggest weekly challenge. The students are lazy, careless, and they are often caught cheating. Last night I caught 3 girls cheating on the review test. For the rest of the class, no one was paying attention, no one would listen...no one cared.
I slammed my book down. I told them they were wasting my time. I told them I put hours and hours of work into preparing class lecture and if they didn't want to learn then they could just leave the room. They sat expressionless.

Really though...I'm not mad at them. It's not even their fault. The textbook is horrendous. They are young students, not mature enough for a college level textbook. The material I am given for teaching makes me an immediate failure before I even try. But no matter how I complain, rant, rebel...in the end, I still have to teach this. So it's a challenge. How can I make this boring, difficult, repulsive subject matter even the slightest bit appealing to grade 4, 5, and 6? How can I keep their attention for 3 hours and see improvement in their second language reading comprehension? How? I'm realizing these days just how much I love challenges. At the same time, I'm realizing how much pressure I let myself bear.

It's the weekend now. Today I'm going shopping and I'm going to watch the Cirque du Soleil. I'm not letting myself be stressed by the work week. This is my time. I'm not "April Teacher" on the weekends.

So to help lift my spirits, I am posting pictures of my favorite students. These students remind me why I love my job. They remind me that I am indeed changing the world one little bright amazing student at a time.

God bless these kids!


You have to notice the succession of these pictures.
First: Okay kids, smile for the camera!


Then: April Teacher makes a really funny noise!
Notice the girls on the left looking at me, "April Teacher WHAT was that?"
And the girl on the bottom left is laughing so hard.
And the boy on the far right is laughing too.
And the girl behind me with her hands over her mouth in shock:)



Finally: Oh okay, we know how to be goofy!


These kids are my sunshine here. They are amazing.