heart of a teacher
When my children were in elementary school, I was a helper until they were in high school. So it wasn’t right. When we moved to Maryland they said, “Mom, can you please not get a job at our school?” for a full time job.
I enjoyed my career in another field until my daughter graduated from college. We moved to Texas while she was in the military and then we moved to California so I could be a grandmother and take care of my grandchildren for a few years. They moved and we moved.
After leaving California, I enjoyed substitute teaching for a few years and had the opportunity to teach first grade at a charter school for one school year. Then Covid hit and I was a substitute teacher again for a semester with 7th graders and I enjoyed it.
I loved having my membership to a teacher’s store and I don’t want to give it up. Even though I changed to another job, I still have the heart of a teacher and I plan to return to substitute teaching once I retire. I helped a friend start a non-profit and am focused on fundraising and looking forward to seeing the direction life takes. I want to see my friend’s dream of building a school come true.
I have a baby Sudanese granddaughter and I want to have something to show her when she is older than what we were able to do in her mother’s homeland. I want my friend to have something to show the boys about him.
When I started my new job, I still had my entire closet and bedroom full of teaching materials that I had accumulated the year before covid hit. I donated a lot but kept a few items just in case. Once school starts this fall, I’ll donate the rest so I can walk around my room and into the closet.
I still plan to collect backpacks and school supplies and keep my membership in the teacher’s store. I will continue to go there on Saturdays. I am inspired every time.
I still have the heart of a teacher. I pray that God will provide the funds to make my friend’s dream come true. I pray there is more to the story and we have photos to show of happy schoolchildren in a new school, filled with all the necessary supplies and smiling teachers who can focus on learning instead of surviving.
We are so hurt in America. I want my grandchildren to love school and learning. I want them to have teachers who love being with them. As long as I can, I’ll continue to participate in some way. Here is the future.