Teachers are weird creatures. We wear so many hats and flip back and forth so many times during a day that it can leave people we encounter wondering what kind of alien being has overtaken our bodies. Think about it: we save the most random stuff, come up with ideas off the tops of our heads at a moment’s notice and can turn from parent mode and spouse mode into ‘teacher mode’ quicker than the copy machine at school can get claimed.
But seriously, although our loved ones know we are a bit quirky and they have learned to live with it, even embrace it and ‘play along’, what about those on the outside who we come into contact with on a not-so-daily basis who have no idea that we are teachers? Our teacher persona carries out of the classroom, out of our homes and into our everyday lives. It’s who we are, not just what we do. We live and breathe teaching; it’s second nature for us. But sometimes we step into others’ ‘UN-comfort’ zone without even knowing it.
So here’s my top ten list of some of the things that leave others shaking their heads, and even becoming a bit concerned, at our eccentricities:
10. Asking adult friends, when we are out in public enjoying dinner together, if they flushed and washed when they return from visiting the bathroom.
9. Reminding random children to ‘use their walking feet’ when we encounter them in a store, even if the grown ups are around.
8. Bending down and tying a complete stranger’s child’s shoelace like it’s no big deal while the grown up stands there, mouth agape, probably thinking we are a child predator.
7. Asking our own ADULT children if they are ‘making good choices’ in their lives when they come to visit us.
6. Randomly coming up with lyrics to teach concepts with to the tune of ‘I’m a Little Tea Pot’ or ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ And singing it in the shower. All. Week. Long. And then catching your spouse humming it while he is getting ready in the morning.
5. Picking up and saving ‘classroom teaching materials’ such as sand, rocks, sticks, interesting leaves, pinecones etc. when we are on family vacations.
4. Asking every child you run into if they are reading when they are out of school on extended breaks.
3. Posting on Facebook and asking everyone to save milk jugs, juice cartons, toilet paper rolls, two-liter bottles, Pringles cans and other random supplies to use for school projects.
2. Making your family members act as guinea pigs for a new game, craft, or science experiment before using it in the classroom. And doing it over and over until it’s perfected.
And the number one thing teachers do out of the classroom that makes people who don’t know we are teachers think we are crazy…
1. Telling the clerk, waiter, mailman and every other service provider that they are ‘doing an amazing job!’ and ‘thank you for your hard work!’ in front of everyone, in your teacher voice, with no shame.
