“I’ve been teaching 6th grade math for 4 years. This is gonna be my first year teaching social studies. I’m excited.”
“What got you started teaching in the first place?”
“I was at church one day, the guy was preaching about ‘what are you going to do with your dash’ and I didn’t know what the dash meant at first. What he said was that on a tombstone, you have a birth date and a death date and the dash is your life. I was frustrated with the job I was in, I was at a uniform management company Cintas, and I was burnt out. We’d work hard for two weeks getting things ready for the CEO to come visit and he’d come in for 10 minutes, tell us what was wrong, get back on his private jet and fly out. So when I heard the preacher I thought ‘I don’t want my dash to be for Cintas, I want my life’s work to be service’. So I went to school to become a teacher. I chose middle grades because I wanted to catch kids before they start making bad decisions. They started doin a little heron, and the girls are growing up fast. I want to show the boys how they’re supposed to treat a woman and let the girls know how they’re supposed to be treated by a man.”
“I really respect what you’re doing. Thank you.”
“I’d do it for free. I have done it for free. My last job I worked 6 months with no check. I don’t regret it at all. I ate a lot of bologna sandwiches but I’m still in touch with those kids.”