Middle School Teacher vs Social Worker

Growing up I wanted to be a teacher. I thought it would be a "fun" job, you get to work all day with kids that are willing to learn and you get three months off during the summer, two weeks off around Christmas and one week off for Spring Break.

Here's the reality: Being a teacher is one of the hardest job and the one you get paid the least for!!!!!!!

So this is the second school year that Laura and I have been together. I will tell you, it's not easy. Not only for the teacher, but for their partners. I have mentioned several times that she is up and out of the house by 6am. She works in an inner city Middle school. Now, middle school kids even in the wealthiest cities are nothing short of CRAZY! We all know how we were as 12, 13 and 14 year olds. It was not pretty. I know for me half the time I didn't know if I was coming and going and I had the worst attitude problem. (It was during this time that I mastered the "rolling of the eyes") And I was one of the quiet ones. So, Laura gets to school and she doesn't know who of her students have not had breakfast, or let alone dinner from the night before. I heard a stastic the other day that between 14-17% of the students in her school district are homeless. WOW. So, her day starts with the kids at 7:15am and the last bell rings at 2:15. Then the real fun begins. Lesson plans, grading papers, parent/teacher conferences. It never seems to end. She finally get home around 5pm. (sometimes later)

My day "officially" starts around 7:45am. I do get up with Laura for about 30 minutes to make her lunch, etc. Anything to make her day easier. But I go back to bed for almost 2 hours. I get out of bed, take a shower, watch a few minutes of Good Morning America and then head on to work. I can really get to work at any time. They say we are suppose to be there at 9am, but if you are a few minutes late, no one says anything. I usually take my time getting to work. My day simply consists of taking phone calls and doing assessments. The phone calls I can not control,but I set my own schedule for assessments. If I decide that I don't want an assessment on a Friday afternoon, I simply tell the person on the phone "I can only get you in for an assessment Friday AM or Monday". I have it pretty easy. I am able to "surf" the net during the day. And now that I think about it, if I don't feel like answering the phone, I let my voice mail get it and I return the call when I want to. Work ends for me at 5pm. Now, there is an older lady that does not drive that I work with and I drive her home. She is the office manager and as you know most office managers run the place they work. This is the case with this lady. If she decides she wants to leave at 4:00, then I too leave since I am her ride home. Most days it's about 4:45 that we leave. Most days I am home at 5pm. Oh, and did I forget I get an entire hour off for lunch.

Sometimes I can be a selfish person. It's this dark side of myself that I try to hide. No one likes to be known as selfish. But there are times when I am selfish. One of those times was last night. I was feeling "neglected" by Laura. I forget sometimes that her day starts so much earlier then mine and she works a lot harder then me.

I'm sorry Laura. I love you.