November is almost at an end, which means most teachers are counting down the days until Christmas break. I’ve decided to do a different kind of counting this year: I’ll be counting all the reasons to return to my profession after the new year…

One thing we need to think about during this holiday season is why we’re here in the first place. Why are we teaching? What keeps us teaching? What makes us come back after the break (especially after Christmas break)?

I’m in my sixth year of teaching, and I still enjoy teaching as much as I did when I first started. I even like *whispers* Mondays!

What? It’s true!

For those of you who still enjoy teaching as much as you did on day one, I hope you keep the spirit alive during your holiday break. For those of you who are contemplating a career change, take a moment to reflect on all the reasons you became a teacher in the first place.

I look forward to Mondays…

I know I said it earlier, but it’s true. It’s also probably one of the top reasons I still enjoy teaching.

Mondays offer a new beginning, a fresh start. Weekends are often filled with ideas about what I can do differently (often only in my head), and I’m eager to try these new things in the classroom.

The most difficult thing is having a great idea on Friday afternoon and having to wait until Monday to try it, having to wait until Monday to see if it was truly a great idea or not.

Waiting isn’t easy, but it’s worth it (especially with those sparks of wonderful ideas).

I love to hear students say they love writing…

How many people can say they love to write? Now divide that in half (at least) and you’ll have the number of students who love to write.

We write a lot in my class. Students have personal writing goals that they work on for six weeks. They write anything they want as they work through the writing process in their notebooks.

Maybe they simply enjoy the freedom they have when they tell me that they finally love writing, but I’m hoping it’s more than that. I’m hoping they’re finding themselves a bit as they write, which is all any writer can ask for.

I enjoy trying new things…

Similar to my love of Mondays, I love to try new things in the classroom. I’ve learned about several new things via Twitter chats, Facebook teaching groups, and Region 12 workshops.

• Writer’s Workshop — I adapted this method that I found on Twitter to fit my classroom.
• Anonymous Suggestion Box — This idea came from a workshop in Student Voice. Suggestions have included: more time to write in class, adding a daily warm-up, play more classical music, and more writing prompts.
• Interactive Presentation — I started using Pear Deck after experiencing it in a workshop. My students love it!
• Interactive Videos — I started using Edpuzzle after encountering it in a workshop. My students like that they can answer questions and hear explanations we’ve learned in class.
• Blog — Although we’re still getting used to having one, my students love updating their blog: CMS Cubs Write, an idea I gained from many sources.

I don’t enjoy failing, but I do love to learn from my mistakes…

After several years of teaching, I’m still failing. I learned about my biggest failure this year: greeting students at the door. This seems like such a small thing, insignificant, but it’s definitely not.

Before this year, students had assigned seating in my class. I thought it would help with classroom management and peer tutoring (I was not disappointed).

However, I learned about flexible seating this summer and wanted to give it a try. I don’t have all the fancy seating, but I did manage to group desks to make it a bit flexible: groups of three, pairs of two, and single seating. Students come in every day and choose the seat where they are most comfortable learning.

I had one major problem (other than possible behavior issues) that I could foresee: learning student names.

Everyone, including me, made name plates to put on our desk the first week or so of school. This was great for learning names during class, but it was terrible for taking role.

I had to come up with a way to take roll without wasting class time.

The idea of greeting students at the door isn’t a new idea. I’ve seen it on Twitter, Facebook, blog posts, and education articles for quite some time. Regardless, I gave it a try: students couldn’t enter the room until I said their name and checked them off my tangible role sheet.

By the end of the first week of school, I had every student’s name memorized, even the two sets of twins!

This wasn’t my big lesson. Well, it was a little since I learned names faster, but it wasn’t a real lesson until today, the first day back to school after Thanksgiving break.

I was greeting students at the door as per usual (no role sheet needed for quite some time), and one student smiled at me. Our short conversation that followed will always stay with me:

“You remembered!” she exclaimed.

“Of course I remembered your name,” I answered. “It’s only been a week.”

“Yeah, but most teachers forget about me.”

“I will never forget about you ____.”

Another smile.

Lesson learned and accepted. Students care. It might seem like an easy way to take roll, but they don’t see it that way. They enjoy hearing their names as you look them in the eyes and greet them before they walk into the classroom. Isn’t that true of us all — don’t we all enjoy being seen?

All that to say…

I am thankful for teaching. I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned, the people I’ve met, the students I’ve taught, and the ideas I’ve tried (failed or not). I enjoy Mondays, and I look forward to my future as an educator.

What about you?

Share with me in comments. If you’re a teacher, tell me what you enjoy about teaching. If you’re not a teacher, tell me one of you favorite memories of a teacher.  I’d love to hear from you.