Every September, my classroom fills with students, and
suddenly, I am transformed into “Mrs. Vriend.”
I respond more quickly to “Mrs. Vriend” than any other name, simply
because I am called that countless times every day:
“Mrs. Vriend, can I go to the bathroom?”
“Mrs.
Vriend, can you come and look at this?”
“Mrs. Vriend, what does ‘wanton’ mean?”
“Mrs. Vriend, what does ‘wanton’ mean?”
“Mrs.
Vriend, what time does class get out?”
“Mrs.
Vriend, how did you meet your husband?”
And
on and on and on it goes…
I am a teacher. And I
wouldn’t have it any other way.
I will admit that after college, I wasn’t so sure. Can I really do this? Do I even enjoy teaching? Do I want to do homework every night for the
rest of my life?
But thankfully, my loving husband convinced me that really,
I needed to give this a try. I applied
for a job and received a position, and while the start was rough, it was just
what I needed.
My job is by no means easy.
Some days, I wonder why I assigned 35 students essays that are now
stacked up and waiting to be graded.
Some days, I wonder if I made any sense and if I at least sounded like I
knew what I was talking about. Some
days, I am emotionally exhausted after giving of myself all day long, allowing
each student to take the little piece of me they needed to keep going and learn
that day.
But every day I get to teach the subject that I love to
students that I love. Every day, I get
to travel around in books and teach students that semi-colons are the best punctuation
mark ever invented. Every day, I get to
show my students the incredible world of words that God created for us to
enjoy. Every day, I get to see students
enjoying learning and growing in their knowledge, individuality, and faith.
So give me the homework, the lesson plans, the essays. I get to mold young adults into the people
God created them to be. And that is why
they call me “Mrs. Vriend.”
