Awww...EW. You hit the nail on the head. They want some 'personality', not just a great teacher. If you are like me, the best reward comes from touching a student's life. You will most likely come across a former student years later and have them tell you how much they enjoyed your teachings. That is gold.
I had one that I will never forget. JV sat in my class slunked down in his chair every day and did absolutlely NOTHING. I mean nothing. He wouldn't utter a word or do one piece of homework. Yet, when I gave a test, he'd ace the thing. It really kind of annoyed me because he's probably much smarter than me. At the end of the year I gave him the speech about how the world doesn't work like this. I'm not going to fail you, though technically I could. Meanwhile in my brain I wanted to smack him down for defying the 'system.'
Fast forward 7 years. I'm at a 4th of July outdoor concert dancing with no shoes to Aerosmith. I make eye contact with this man and stopped dead in my tracks. It was JV. MAC, MAC!!! (That's what the kids always called me.) He gave me the biggest hug. He took me by the hand and drug me off the field to where we could talk. I got another hug and he proceeded to say that I was the coolest teacher ever and he really did listen when I gave the speech about real life. He's decided to not be so stubborn. I nearly died laughing. I told him that defying the system is not such a bad thing. I guess the hippie in me won't go away.
In the end, no award could stand up to helping a kid and seeing some results. Administrators don't see these kind of things. YOU DO. Enjoy it and relish the thought that you are mentoring many and touching their lives.
Abbey
