Afterwards, a few of us stuck around and chatted: getting to know each other, sharing war stories, challenges, frustrations. I mostly smiled and listened, because although I was happy to meet them, I don’t have war stories or challenges or frustrations (yet). Then one of them said something that made me wonder.
“You can see who the real teachers are,” she said. The others nodded.
The comment sounded a bit like one I heard from my teaching hero who once told me, “Just don’t hate the kids.”
It makes me wonder. Although I know what kind of teacher I want to be, and although I know what kind of teacher I am planning to be, I don’t know what kind of teacher I will be. And I don’t know if I will be a real teacher who others can see.
I’m working on it.