One of these is how it really happened. I'll give you one guess.

"Miss," she asked at the beginning of eighth period, "How does it feel to be a teacher?"

A lot of words went through my head...

the story continued as written on a brochure for my teaching program

...challenging, empowering, dynamic, rewarding, yes at times even overwhelming. I thought of how nervous I was on my first day of school, all of those little faces looking to me, their teacher! I wondered whether all of the long hours were paying off. Was I reaching all of my students? Was I having the impact on them that I had hoped? One thing I knew for sure, my students were having an impact on me. I had learned so much from them already!

My student was waiting, so I just said the most honest word that came from my heart.

"Wonderful," I said. "It feels wonderful to be a teacher." She smiled and went back to work. It was the kind of moment I had dreamed of when I started my journey toward teaching.

the story continued as written for this blog

...and I said the first one that seemed appropriate to say out loud.

"Tiring," I said. She kept talking about something and I went back to trying to get sight words written on the board so we could get started reading them together.

I had only stopped in the first place because I find that ignoring the "Miss!" leads to auto-repeat with volume escalation. "Miss! MISS! MIIIIISSSSSSSS!" It haunts my dreams.

[Disclaimer: Not only was it the last period of the day, but my eighth period class and this student in particular work my last nerve. She had shouted this out, despite the vast amount of time we continually spend on the skill of raising our hands and being called on before speaking. A student asking politely at an opportune moment would get a more positive answer.]