It was the beginning of another school year. I had agreed to teach all students who had difficulty in studying. I knew what lay ahead—hard work hours and lesson plans with best practice strategies(策略). No wonder people always say to me, "I'm glad it's you and not me." when talking about my teaching career.
Suddenly, I remembered my first few years of teaching.
"Peter Potter," I called from my name list, trying to control my laughter. "Laughlin McLaughlin?" Surely these were not real names.
"Emotionally (感情上) disabled…treat them differently…, " the assistant headmaster told me. This was my first teaching assignment(任务).
Surely this year could never be as bad as those first few. In my new classroom, I looked into the face of Jason. At eleven, his mother was killed in an accident, leaving him with physical, academic, and certainly emotional scars(伤疤). I looked at another student Robert standing at the door, my assistant headmaster asked if I would take him, even though he was an eleventh grader in my tenth grade class.
But then there were—and are—stories of success— of Dustin, in Graduate School for Electrical and Computer Engineering; of Michael, now a teacher in a city school; of Wilie…I thought of the thousands of students whose lives have ever touched mine far more than I could ever touched theirs.
I broke from my daydream, a smile appearing on my face. Sadness, tears, difficulties, fears—yes, teaching is filled with all of these—yet, it is also filled with laughter and smiles, hope, dreams, and rewards beyond measure.
"I'm glad it's you and not me. "Those words resounded in my mind once again.
