It’s hard to to truly encapsulate what it is like to be an educator in the 21st century. From data monitoring to goal-setting to differentiation, it is far unlike anything we’ve seen since the dawn of public education. However, this is the Internet. And if there’s one thing the Internet loves, it’s cats. Check out these fifteen cats that do seem to completely “get” what it is like to be a teacher.

1. When it's Friday, and you still have grades to enter into PowerSchool...

2. When you’re making a show of waiting for the class to quiet down…

3. When students haven’t done the reading…

4. Making it through a lesson that you’re realizing—much too late—was less-than-perfectly-planned...

5. What it feels like sometimes, meeting schoolwide expectations…

6. Answering questions in class during “worktime”...

7. When you notice students checking their phones…

8. When you forgot your leftover pad thai at home and have to settle for the cafeteria’s “frank n beans”...

9. When you're 3 minutes late for staff meeting…

10. When you “get it” pedagogically, but can’t yet manage it in practice...

11. When you’re grading those last two essays…

12. When you’ve set wayyyyy too ambitious SLOs for the semester…

13. That unexpected hand raise…

14. How you feel after taking on a brand new curricular initiative...

15. When everyone suddenly starts using acronyms you've never heard before...

Written by Keith Lambert, Education World Associate Contributing Editor

Lambert is an English / Language Arts teacher in Connecticut.