So You Want To Be a Teacher

It was my daughter's sixth birthday on Saturday...which meant we had about four days of partying to celebrate.  We had cupcakes at school on Friday and celebrated the last sleep as a five year old.  We had a cake, a SDSU football game (you know...SDSU played that game for her since it was her birthday), tailgating, a combine ride with McDonalds, and presents on Saturday.  Sunday brought another cake and another round of presents.  This morning she celebrated because it was her first day of school being six.

There was a pile of toys at our house last night.  I was hoping she wasn't going to want to open any of them right away.  Part of the reason is I like to save a few things for when she gets bored of what she has and part of it is selfish on my part.  You basically have to have a chainsaw, blow torch, and the strength of Superman to get anything out of a box.  Once you get the box open, you then have about a hundred rubber bands and plastic screws you have to try to loosen holding things into place.  And don't get me started on what they do to doll hair to keep it looking nice in the box.

There were a lot of boxes with the word "Barbie" on them.  I have a soft spot for Barbie.  I had TONS of Barbies growing up.  I never took their hair out to brush...I left them the same as they were in the box.  I kept track of every shoe, necklace, and other accessory.  I loved Barbie.  Back then, Barbie seemed more about fashion than anything else.  Barbie these days is a girl on the go!  She can do anything!  Think of a job and they have Barbie doing it.  Any job.  Barbie has taken on the role of empowering little ones to imagine they can be anything!

My daughter received Farmer Barbie as a gift yesterday.  Farmer Barbie is dressed in a plaid shirt, blue jeans, brown boots and is holding a chicken.  Seems like just a basic Barbie, but for those kids who do not live on a farm, this Barbie allows them to imagine a world that is different than their own.

She also received Teacher Barbie.  I must admit...Mattel needs some help with this one.  It is a little unrealistic.  First off, Barbie only came with one student.  Not sure what you have to do to get the other 24 that should be in her classroom.  Teacher Barbie also had high heels on. Um...yeah...no.  The longer I have been in education the more I have realized the smartest investment in your wardrobe is comfortable shoes.  I would like to meet the teacher who could do recess duty, run down the hall after a kid, and just function all day in heels.  That being said, there were some realistic things.  Teacher Barbie only came with one piece of chalk, one pair of scissors, and one bottle of glue.  She also looks very kind...which is exactly the kind of teacher I would want!

As I watched my daughter play with her last night using language I know she has heard her teachers her recite, I thought about the "what if".  What if she wants to be a teacher?  Would I encourage her?  Would I discourage her?  What would I do?  Would I let my experiences both negative and positive influence her?  Would I tell her to NOT choose a profession that causes you to drag home so much emotional baggage?  Would I tell her it sucks to have people question the decisions you make?  Would I tell her I often think about other kids before I think about her...and I don't want that for her kids?  What will I tell her?  Will I tell her about the look on the first grader's face when they could FINALLY read that book all by themselves?  Will I tell her about the days when kids come up and say thank you?  Will I tell her about the sense of pride you feel for your students and staff when the accomplish something great?  Will I tell her about the great people you work with that become your second family?  (Writing this has caused me to tear up. I think it is because I need to remind myself of the great things about education...especially in this week that is all about education.)

I think for now I will let her play.  I will let her imitate those people she looks up to and admires.  I will let her model the things she see the great people in this building doing and saying every day.  I will let her think of her teachers as some of the greatest people on the planet.  I will let her play.

Thank you for all you do.  You make a difference.