20 “Teacher Moments” Only Teachers Can Truly Appreciate

From classrooms to hallways to staff meetings and after school programming, the collection of sometimes magical, sometimes maddening moments makes up the profession we know as “teaching”. An often misunderstood vocation, Education World celebrates those moments that make the educator's world unique.

1. When you wonder when exactly YOU became the one in charge...

2. When you can't figure out WHO these other teachers ARE!

3. When you just can’t keep it together, and you REALLY need to...

4. When they surprise you.

5. When students are somehow able to concoct excuses that defy the basic premises of life on Earth.

6. When students surmise that the classroom might not exist when they are not there to perceive it.

7. When MLA and APA formatting make way for a 38-point of the “coolest” font they can find…

8. When you just can't even.

9. When the absurdly prepared teacher drops the mic.

10. When you inadvertently break world records trying to prep before the next class.

11. When you’re WAY cooler than your district.

12. When you start to wonder how we were ever able to put humans into space.

13. When THAT staff meeting goes down.

14. When you appreciate the effort, but you’re actually only here for the coffee and tiny bagels.

15. When you really WANT to help, but those nights off are feeling way too few and far between…

16. When it doesn’t quite add up the way you’d hoped it would.

17. When the student-centered classroom finally leads to a week of kicking back with a rubric.

18. When the sun begins to shine, the birds begin to sing, and the kids LOSE their MINDS.

19. When you wish they only knew…

20. When you just can’t do any more adulting.

Written by Keith Lambert, Education World Associate Contributing Editor

Lambert is a English / Language Arts teacher and teacher trainer in Connecticut.