I teach twenty hours a week at my neighborhood elementary school. Every weekday, I walk the two minutes to the school where my daughters attended. I pull gifted and talented students from their classrooms for eighty minutes of math and thirty minutes of Language Arts. Then over their lunch break, I run just about every club the school offers to any student interested. Mondays it is the Spelling Bee for 3rd-5th. Tuesday we have Writer’s Club. Wednesday I actually get to leave early. Thursday is Battle of the Books for 4th and 5th. After school on Mondays 3rd-5th graders can join me for Chess Club. Tired yet? Oh and Character Club met after school too. And that’s only HALF of what the full time teachers do!

I remember one afternoon this March walking out of the portable where my classroom is located. I crossed the parking lot to head home on a warm, sunny day and felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude.