While there can be some difficult aspects to the teaching profession, most teachers would agree that the pros far outweigh the cons. In fact, many teachers would be happy to tell you all the things that make them passionate about the field of education!
Since we’re celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week, we thought it would be fun to ask some teachers what they enjoy most about their job. Here is our compiled list of the top 25 things teachers love about this profession:
- Summer break!
- Making a difference in the life of a child
- Birthday treats at least once a month
- Having a supportive administration—this is a huge asset!
- Playing with LEGOs, building with blocks, coloring with crayons, and playing with shaving cream (as an adult!)
- Unconditional smiles and love from students every day
- Students can be like puppies—they forget about the trouble they were in five minutes ago!
- Offering stability, security, and normalcy to students
- Hours of cutting, coloring, gluing, stapling, and laminating (some people love this!)
- You can still go outside for recess at the age of 40 and play kickball
- Seeing the “Aha!” moment when a student understands a new concept
- Having a great team of teachers to work with who share the planning responsibilities
- Being there for both the struggles and celebrations of students
- Building relationships with students—it’s always nice when former students come back to check in
- Field trips (especially the part when you get to ride a school bus again!)
- Wearing jeans on Fridays
- Answering “How many kids do you have?” with “23!”
- Days off work when your own kids are off from school = family time
- Hearing the excitement that comes from students learning something new
- Having classroom technology that rocks
- Having a candy stash in my desk, which is shared with students on good days and just for me on bad days
- Being challenged to figure out how I’m going to do a project when there is no money—it makes me VERY creative!
- Meeting and sharing stories about students with caring parents
- Having the opportunity to empower my students with lifelong learning skills
- Did we mention summer break?!
What do you love most about teaching? Let us know in the comments below! And be sure to follow along with our other Teacher Appreciation Week posts by subscribing to the Educator blog.