Dear Teacher

by Crystal Drake I’ve been there…when the high school student informed me that my ‘barn door was open’ as I watched 28 students’ eyes suddenly shift from my face to my mid section.

I’ve been there…when I couldn’t find my car in the parking lot, because a student I gave my keys to earlier in the day, so they could retrieve something for me, moved it to a different location!

I’ve been there…when a student suddenly jumped up and ripped his shirt off during my class because the student behind him put itching powder down his back.

I’ve been there…when the Rejection Hotline informed me that I had bad breathe and no one would want to date me, because a student told me it was his dad’s work number.

I’ve been there…when a fight broke out in my classroom in front of an elderly guest speaker and in complete horror, I heard one of my students scream the ‘F’ word.

Note to reader:  All of the above situations included the SAME student!  That’s what happens when you teach kids from 10^th through 12^th grade.

I’ve been there…when a student fell asleep and I didn’t wake him when the bell rang.  When he finally woke up and started looking around, he saw unfamiliar classmates; I had the last laugh that day.

I’ve been there…when a kindergarten student cut her bangs off under my substitute supervision the day before school pictures.

I’ve been there…when one of my students pulled a knife out of his pocket and started chasing his friend around my room.

I’ve been there…when a substitute left a completed Referral Form on my desk regarding a misbehaving student.  However, I did not have a student named Gil Matthews.

I’ve been there…when a student’s pants came off during a skit to reveal boxer shorts (thank goodness) underneath, while I was videoing with a camera on my shoulder that weighed at least 20 pounds.

I’ve been there…when someone glued my erasers to the board so high I couldn’t reach them because I had written them a Referral for not wearing a belt.

I’ve been there…when a student tied a piece of fishing line across the aisle and then innocently called me back to his group to ask a question.  I somehow caught myself from falling on my face.  No one in the group would admit to the prank.  (I was finally able to solve the mystery when he graduated and inside a thank you card was a piece of fishing line).

I’ve been there…when I had to write my own 12^th grade daughter a Referral Form – yes, I mean Mrs. Oxer.

I’ve been there…when after announcing a pop quiz, a 12^th grade student was so mean that I ran out of my room to a bench outside where I cried my eyes out.  The same student finally talked me into coming back inside and agreed to take the quiz if I would just please stop crying.

I’ve been there…when a student passed my Pre-Test with a high B and went to the Guidance Counselor to try, unsuccessfully, to drop my class even though he needed the credit to graduate.  When she wouldn’t let him, he began calling me “Drakula” until he graduated.  He later used his computer skills to save me when I was stranded in Hawaii with no return home plane ticket.  Today he is one of my most trusted & beloved friends.

I’ve been there…when my AP students (first AP class offered at MHHS) planned a mutiny & went to the principal to complain about my class because I was making them read too much.  Thank goodness for a principal that had my back!

I’ve been there…when I realized the video clip I was showing was inappropriate & started thinking, “How can I destroy this tape before anyone on the School Board sees it and I lose my job?”  (I videoed the evening news over it that night in a fashion that would have made Richard Nixon proud.)  P.S.  Don’t show video that students bring in without previewing it first, especially if it is a scene from Saturday Night Live, even if the topic IS about the Supreme Court.

I’ve been there…when students took clear plastic wrap to my car to pay me back for pranking them and completely wrapped all of my car doors shut!

I’ve been there…when a student gave me a sympathy card after the death of my brother, that touched me so deeply, I still remember it to this day.

I’ve been there…when we buried a 50 year time capsule on the football field and I plan to be there when we open it in 2050.  (I’ll be 91).

I’ve been there…when a student tried to start a fire in my classroom.

I’ve been there…when I tried to break up a fight between two boys and I got shoved up against a desk by one of them & the entire class let out a simultaneous gasp.

I’ve been there…when I tried to play TOUCH football with middle school boys and was tackled to the ground. I woke up to a group of little boys all staring down at me with fear all over their faces, afraid they had accidently killed their teacher.

I’ve been there…when a giant middle school student picked me up and held me out in the uncovered courtyard in the rain while I kicked and screamed, “Let me down!”

I’ve been there…when my students gave a presentation in front of an audience of over 500 spectators at a university, were on the news that night & then testified in Tallahassee at a committee meeting regarding our project.

I’ve been there…when they buried too many of my former students.

I’ve been there…when my 12^th graders told me I looked like J-Lo so I wouldn’t give the pop quiz.  They were much smarter than the group who made me cry!

I’ve been there…in New York City on Spring Break with my students taking pictures of them with the ‘Naked Cowboy’.

I’ve been there…in Washington, D.C. for the first presidential inauguration after 9/11 & waited in freezing cold weather, in a security line that wrapped around a city block, to finally get inside the perimeter fence –  to an inauguration that was already over.

I’ve been there…in the teacher trainings and faculty meetings that made me want to bang my head against the wall.

I’ve been there…listening to a principal tell me I had to add one more poster to my wall or one more element to my lesson plan, without EVER telling me I could take some other requirement away!

I’ve been there…when the parent doesn’t realize that their child doesn’t always tell the truth.

I’ve been there…when the evaluation doesn’t validate me as a good teacher, because the things I insist on doing for my kids aren’t on the measuring tool.

I’ve been there…when my colleague gossips about me for trying to excel at what I do & they don’t want to do the same, so they criticize.

I’ve been there…when the last day of school being somewhere in sight is the only thing that can get me out of bed in the morning.

I’ve been there…when I was sick & should have stayed home, but I knew I needed to be at school that day for something that a substitute wouldn’t be able to do.

Thank you & please know that I appreciate & highly esteem all that you do, because…I’ve been there.

“If your gift is serving others, serve them well.  If you are a teacher, teach well.” 

Romans 12:7