30-Day Challenge | Day 9

Day 9: Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about (or may not care).

I purposefully have tried not to look ahead in the prompts because I know there are some (like a couple days ago) that will be hard to find something to write about. In starting my 12th year of teaching, I still feel like it's year one in a lot of aspects. For that reason, it's hard for me to find something I can tag as my "biggest accomplishment."

There are two things I am going to note:

Despite the efforts by those that think public education and teachers aren't worth a dime and continue to bombard us with ridiculous expectations, I still LOVE my job. Am I exhausted on what seems like a daily basis? Without a doubt. Do I wonder how many people in other professions are up until 11, 12 or sometimes later, preparing work for their job, grading, or keeping up with the myriad of professional expectations? Constantly. But I can say that I can't imagine myself doing anything else. I played school in my parent's basement from the time I could remember (both of my parents taught and are now retired), making up rosters (with names from books I read) in a grade book my Mom brought home. My last year in college, I'd come home and my Mom would ask me, "Are you sure this is what you want to be doing for the next 30 years?" I'd smile and tell her not to worry, and, yes, I'm sure.

My second accomplishment comes in the form of a thank you note I received from a student at the end of last year. For two years I taught some classes that were WAY out of my comfort zone. I would cry at least once a week to my husband that I felt like a failure because I didn't think I was doing a good enough job with these students. I have high expectations for my classes and myself, and I wasn't coming close for myself I felt. There aren't a lot of girls that take Programming classes (a fact which saddens me and I hope changes) because they are viewed as something meant for the guys. I had a student that stuck with me for 2 years, through AP, and thought she hated the class. However, this student stuck with it (and me), holding her own in a classroom full of, at times, obnoxious boys (smiley face) and is now going on to pursue a career in computer science (web design if I recall correctly). When I opened her thank you note, I couldn't believe what I read, and was brought to tears. It made my two years going through all of that worth it; I'd do it all over again.