Sometimes I feel like this:

Teaching is awesome.....Why am I teaching?......Teaching is awesome.....Why am I teaching?......Teaching is awesome.

Sometimes, it really is that back and forth for me. Weirdly enough, this whole doubting my teaching career is a fairly recent thought that seems to sort of coincide with me becoming Catholic. Yeah, I really don't get it either. I do seem happiest when I am learning and doing things in my faith. However, am I on some kind of post-baptism high? Am I just super excited about my faith because it is so new? Am I going to be this zealous about my faith in a month, a year, five years, or fifty years from now? I don't know. I can only hope. In fact, I pray often that I never ceased to be amazed by the beauty of this faith. It is just so beyond beautiful. I don't ever want to lose it. And how does all this even have anything whatsoever to do with me being a teacher? Simply put, I guess it just all makes me think, is this where God wants me? And it sucks that I don't know the answer to that. 

Tonight, as I was grading Welding's toolboxes, I was pondering all the above and this: 

"I hate grading. It is without a doubt the worst part of my job. I hate grading. Why did I wait so long to grade these?"

Then I came across one of my student's toolboxes. This student has done a complete turnaround. He use to get on my nerves so much. Now he is respectful. I really, really look forward to having him in class. He actually helped me plan our next welding project the other day because he finished waaaaaaay before the other students. In fact, his whole class used to be a bunch of hellions. Perhaps they were bored. I don't know. Now they are borderline my favorite class. I know. I just went there. How could Welding be my favorite class?

First of all, just one particular class. The other two.....not really as enthused with them. However, this class has the kid (a different one that I also really enjoy) that commented how I never smiled. Okay, so I tried smiling. I really did try hard with these boys....and one girl. : ) I put forth extra effort in this class to be patient. Not that I am always great at this but I think it is starting to pay off. 

Anyway, so there is a reason I went from I hate grading, to grading isn't so bad. It was because I sent the turnaround kid's Mom an email tonight. In the past, this particular parent was a bit of a nuisance for me. I thought some of her emails a bit ridiculous. However, it felt awesome to send her an email about how awesome her son was doing lately. Then I thought, maybe it is as much as a turnaround kid as it is a turnaround teacher? Anyway, it just felt awesome to send her a positive email for once. That feeling is one reason why I love teaching. There really are a lot of reasons. And I guess we will end on that note for tonight. :)

Peace!