Teachers Are Superheroes

Sometimes, there’s this hustle and bustle going on in our lives that force us to go through the motions, almost blindly.

We snooze our alarms, we let the dog out, we put the coffee on. Some days, our outfit doesn’t match. Other days, we spill our coffee on our outfit. We get stuck in traffic on our way to work, and when we arrive, we remember we don’t have copies of what we wanted for first period. We end up covering a class during our plan period, and we work with kids during our lunch. We check in with students who haven’t turned in work because we want them to succeed, we write nurse passes, and we teach our lessons over and over, perfecting them as we go. When we get a free second during study hall, we grade three and a half quizzes, and we smile because that’s three and a half less than we will have to take home over the weekend. At the end of the day, we read the eighteen emails we received throughout the day, and we respond as we can.

We love it. Truly. Teachers love to be busy, and that’s why after we respond to emails, we help lead an after-school club every Tuesday. And when we pack up our bag to go home, we turn off the lights everyday, and everyday we close the door. And then tomorrow, we do the same thing.

Again, we love it.

Some days, though, we forget that we are superheroes. Sometimes it takes a moment to catch our breaths or a moment where we’re so filled with joy that we stop to cry and realize it.

My “superhero” canvas from one sweet student!

The other day, a student made me this canvas, with my initial in the middle. And, she told me that she created it this way because it looked like a superhero.

I didn’t ask her what she meant by that, but I can tell you that I couldn’t name one of the marvel or avengers superheros; it’s not one of my hobbies by any means. Regardless of what she meant by it, it encouraged this little teacher’s heart to the point that my eyes welled up with tears.

And I stopped, and I remembered.

Because beyond the muddy dog paws on my kitchen floor, and the pile of essays I need to grade, and the long drive home I have ahead of me, and the meal I need to cook tonight, and the dishes that need done, and my clothes that need folded, and my emails that need sent…. beyond that, I made a difference.

It’s hard whenever we just go through the motions because we don’t remember that we have the opportunity to touch hundreds of little hearts everyday. In fact, we probably did just that!

Dear teacher, what you do matters. You matter. And although your day might have been hectic in every way you could define it, you made a difference in a child’s life today. You’re truly a superhero. Thanks for all that you do.