Well the end of my first assignment has come (and gone). It's hard to believe that you can get to know more than 100 kids in such a short time. I am really excited to be back on campus for the week. It's good to see familiar faces and sights again; kind of comforting, actually.
Teaching at Cooper was a major roller coaster of emotions. It's interesting to look back at the past posts and see how my emotions changed from day to day. One day would be amazing where I could almost see the light bulbs come on all over the room when the look on their faces was "Oh! I get it!" Those are the times that I have come to live for and love. That is why I teach. Not to get summers off (although that is nice), not for the money (God knows it's not for the money), it is simply for the satisfaction of passing (at least some of) my passion for science on to people who still have time left in their lives to do something with it. I may not be an old man, but I am past the point of doing any amazing research, past the point of going to medical school, and past the point of becoming an astrophysicist. So, I can do all of those things through my kids. They still have time to do something with their lives. Time to make a difference in medical research or cosmology. Wouldn't it be ironic if one of the kids I teach later go on to find a cure for some unknown disease that I end up having? That's a cool thought!
Sure there were days when I thought, "No way will I ever teach middle school!" While that was true on that particular day, I did have many days that I thought "Wow! What a great day!" So which of them were more numerous? I have no idea. I believe I could be happy no matter where I end up. God has a place carved out for me and I simply have to be willing to accept His Will for my life, no matter the school setting. I thought that I might even not teach, but it looks like I am headed down the path of low pay, summers off, disrespectful kids, and the most satisfying job anyone could ever have.
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