Captain Crazy and the Craz-i-trons
I'm slightly crazy. This could be said in reference to many things, but for the intent of this blog post, it will be in reference to my career. I absolutely love teaching. I truly believe it is my God given calling to love, educate, and nurture children. I CANNOT imagine doing anything different with my life. However, teaching Jr. High and High School has made me a bit... crazy. I FIRMLY believe that this craziness developed out of necessity to educate students. Kids today have a lot going on and a lot of factors stacked against them. It isn't as simple as walking into a classroom, handing children a worksheet, and telling them to quietly work on it. (I am doubtful that things were ever THAT simple, but, hey, the 1900's were a long time ago, who am I to judge?) Today's students have so much going on in their lives that the content I am teaching ranks pretty low on their list of priorities. BUT how they feel when they step into my classroom, THAT makes a big difference to them.
I know how most of my students are doing within the first 3.5 seconds I see them. I can tell who had a bad morning, who was up way too late last night, who needs to eat breakfast, who is in a bad mood, who can't wait to see me, and who wants to be anywhere else but school JUST by looking at them. Add in a few sentences and I can get a WHOLE bunch of other information. It's part of my "Captain Crazy" super power. You see, I work REALLY REALLY hard to form relationships with my kids.
I know that I can't get my students to do much of anything for me if they don't first know how much I care about them. Don't get me wrong, they roll their eyes BIG time any time I even breathe a phrase that sounds like I care about them, but deep down, they know, and because of it, we get a lot accomplished. Oh, don't misunderstand, we have ROUGH days, tough days, days where I cry in my car on the way home, but each morning I get up and do it again. Why? Because I'm crazy. The demand of this job is highly emotional, I become insanely attached to my students, they become "my kids." I want what is best for them, strive to help them succeed, and desire for them to have the best possible life available. But I am one person. I have dozens of students every year. I may only spend 44 minutes a day with some of "my kids," and yet, they are always on my heart and mind. I MISS them when we are off, I WORRY about them when it gets really cold and we have bad weather and no school, I HOPE for them to be successful and happy in their adult lives. All of those emotions are exhausting, but so incredibly necessary in order to truly connect and care about students, and they make me a little crazy.
Forming relationships isn't easy, especially with classes full of adolescents who would rather do ANYTHING than bond with an adult. So how do I "make them" get to know me. Enter "Captain Crazy." This name was fondly given to me by one of my high school students this year. She can often be heard saying, "oh brother" any time I get slightly excited (read weird) about anything. However, she secretly loves my nuttiness. I am often the most excited person in the jr./sr. hallway on a weekday morning. I can't help it, I LOVE saying good morning to all of my students. I also know how incredibly amazing it feels to walk in to a place and have someone genuinely happy that you are there. I want my students to feel THAT. The rush of happiness when someone is glad to see you. I want them to feel that EVERY STINKIN' DAY they come to my classroom. Why? Because they deserve it. I work with the BEST students in the entire world, (yes, I am SUPER biased), and they deserve to have teachers who are insanely in love with their jobs and who cannot wait to connect with them and teach them.
Because of my over the top excitement (sometimes I jump when I get really happy) a student gave me the name, Captain Crazy, which I happen to love. I then nicknamed my students the "crazy-i-trons" something else for them to give me BIG eye rolls over. BUT my excitement (which is admittedly "fake it til you make it" somedays) is contagious. And though my student rarely meet my level of crazy, it does help pep them up for the day. It also lets them know that I think education is really important. They can tell that I really like what I do and it's so much more than a "job" for me. I want my students to feel important and worthy of achieving greatness. Are this big and lofty dreams? Maybe. But, what if someone you saw everyday believed in you so much that you couldn't help but believe in yourself? Is that crazy? Sure, but after all, that's my name. ;)
I had a student missing from school because of being sick, when he returned I said to him, "I'm so glad you are back, I missed you!" He looked at me with the oddest stare and said, "You're lying, you don't mean that, no one misses me." "I looked right in his eyes and said, "I would not lie to you. I absolutely missed you and was worried about you, and I am GLAD that you are back today." His response after there was a slight twinge of a smile and a sparkle in his eye; "Mrs. Brown, you're crazy." Ah yes, there it is, that crazy thing again. But I will do most anything to engage students, connect them to content, teach them to think deeply, and most of all, BELIEVE in themselves. So yes, sometimes I jump, or talk in funny accents, or make myself look stupid, but you know what? That is just the level of crazy my students need.
Not all days are good, heck some days I CANNOT WAIT for that 2:55 bell to ring. BUT there is never a day I doubt my calling, never a day I regret my decision to become a teacher, NEVER a day I wish I had picked a different career. So yes, I'll take being Captain Crazy and continue to work hard for my Craz-i-trons, because you know what? They deserve it.
I know how most of my students are doing within the first 3.5 seconds I see them. I can tell who had a bad morning, who was up way too late last night, who needs to eat breakfast, who is in a bad mood, who can't wait to see me, and who wants to be anywhere else but school JUST by looking at them. Add in a few sentences and I can get a WHOLE bunch of other information. It's part of my "Captain Crazy" super power. You see, I work REALLY REALLY hard to form relationships with my kids.
I know that I can't get my students to do much of anything for me if they don't first know how much I care about them. Don't get me wrong, they roll their eyes BIG time any time I even breathe a phrase that sounds like I care about them, but deep down, they know, and because of it, we get a lot accomplished. Oh, don't misunderstand, we have ROUGH days, tough days, days where I cry in my car on the way home, but each morning I get up and do it again. Why? Because I'm crazy. The demand of this job is highly emotional, I become insanely attached to my students, they become "my kids." I want what is best for them, strive to help them succeed, and desire for them to have the best possible life available. But I am one person. I have dozens of students every year. I may only spend 44 minutes a day with some of "my kids," and yet, they are always on my heart and mind. I MISS them when we are off, I WORRY about them when it gets really cold and we have bad weather and no school, I HOPE for them to be successful and happy in their adult lives. All of those emotions are exhausting, but so incredibly necessary in order to truly connect and care about students, and they make me a little crazy.
Forming relationships isn't easy, especially with classes full of adolescents who would rather do ANYTHING than bond with an adult. So how do I "make them" get to know me. Enter "Captain Crazy." This name was fondly given to me by one of my high school students this year. She can often be heard saying, "oh brother" any time I get slightly excited (read weird) about anything. However, she secretly loves my nuttiness. I am often the most excited person in the jr./sr. hallway on a weekday morning. I can't help it, I LOVE saying good morning to all of my students. I also know how incredibly amazing it feels to walk in to a place and have someone genuinely happy that you are there. I want my students to feel THAT. The rush of happiness when someone is glad to see you. I want them to feel that EVERY STINKIN' DAY they come to my classroom. Why? Because they deserve it. I work with the BEST students in the entire world, (yes, I am SUPER biased), and they deserve to have teachers who are insanely in love with their jobs and who cannot wait to connect with them and teach them.
Because of my over the top excitement (sometimes I jump when I get really happy) a student gave me the name, Captain Crazy, which I happen to love. I then nicknamed my students the "crazy-i-trons" something else for them to give me BIG eye rolls over. BUT my excitement (which is admittedly "fake it til you make it" somedays) is contagious. And though my student rarely meet my level of crazy, it does help pep them up for the day. It also lets them know that I think education is really important. They can tell that I really like what I do and it's so much more than a "job" for me. I want my students to feel important and worthy of achieving greatness. Are this big and lofty dreams? Maybe. But, what if someone you saw everyday believed in you so much that you couldn't help but believe in yourself? Is that crazy? Sure, but after all, that's my name. ;)
I had a student missing from school because of being sick, when he returned I said to him, "I'm so glad you are back, I missed you!" He looked at me with the oddest stare and said, "You're lying, you don't mean that, no one misses me." "I looked right in his eyes and said, "I would not lie to you. I absolutely missed you and was worried about you, and I am GLAD that you are back today." His response after there was a slight twinge of a smile and a sparkle in his eye; "Mrs. Brown, you're crazy." Ah yes, there it is, that crazy thing again. But I will do most anything to engage students, connect them to content, teach them to think deeply, and most of all, BELIEVE in themselves. So yes, sometimes I jump, or talk in funny accents, or make myself look stupid, but you know what? That is just the level of crazy my students need.
Not all days are good, heck some days I CANNOT WAIT for that 2:55 bell to ring. BUT there is never a day I doubt my calling, never a day I regret my decision to become a teacher, NEVER a day I wish I had picked a different career. So yes, I'll take being Captain Crazy and continue to work hard for my Craz-i-trons, because you know what? They deserve it.
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