The Many Roles of a Teacher

It amazes me how many different hats I have to wear every day.

I'm a teacher (of course). I work to make sure my kids know everything they need to be able to succeed in the future. I teach them Bible, Math, Spelling, Language Arts, Science, Reading, and History. (Not to mention sharing, caring, respect, obedience, kindness, and the list goes on....and on....and on...)

I'm a nurse. At least once a week I have to break out the First Aid kit because someone has fallen and scraped their knee, hand, arm, leg, face-pretty much anything that was exposed when they fell. I deal with head aches, stomach aches, asthma, hurt elbows, hurt fingers, etc. etc. etc. It amazes me how many band-aids I go through!

I'm a referee. Sometimes I'm a referee in the sports sense because my kids love to play football and tag. This is the type of refereeing I prefer. Other times I'm a referee between students who are arguing I have to make fair judgements and make the final call on what actions should take place to keep the peace. I may not actually wear black and white stripes but sometimes I feel like I should!

I'm an entertainer. I know that not every part of school is exciting and enthralling. However, I try to make it as interesting as possible. That means I have to go above and beyond to keep my students' attention. For reading and history in particular I assign students parts so they can act out what we're learning. They love getting to be involved in the lesson! I also try to read with as much enthusiasm as possible so my students will be excited about what we're studying.   

I'm the bad guy. As much as I don't like it, sometimes I have to be mean. I have to punish students for making bad choices with the hope that it will encourage them to become more responsible. Part of my job is making sure my students feel safe in my classroom. When one student disrespects another, I have to discourage that behavior in some way. In most cases it is with actions that my students don't enjoy.  

I'm the good guy. I would much rather be this person than the bad guy! I love getting to reward students for their grades, actions, and words. I like to compliment them on the good things I see them do and give them tickets which they can trade in for prizes. I like to smile and laugh with them. It makes my job more fun! One of my favorite things to do is make little gifts for them. They are so happy to get a cookie or treat bag!

Needless to say, this doesn't even come close to covering every role a teacher has to play in the classroom. We are stretched to the limit but it is worth it to see a student get excited about learning something new!