LAUGH
Teacher brains will always think of life in school years rather than calendar years, but when the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2022, we couldn’t help but wonder what this new year had in store for us. Would it be better? It couldn’t be worse, right? Well, we’ve had one month of teaching in 2022, and the Twittersphere is already filled with enough tweets to tell us how teachers are doing at the start of this year.
1. We’re honestly confused that it’s not 2023 yet.
It’s barely an exaggeration to say that every day feels like at least one month.
2. We’re losing our minds.
Being teachers in 2022 is wild. At this point, we absolutely cannot be held accountable for a single thing we say or do.
3. We’ve reread the fine print in our job descriptions multiple times.
We get to decide every day if we want to laugh or cry at our current list of duties.
4. Our egos are still being kept in check.
Teaching over the past few years has made us age at a concerning rate anyway, so we can’t even be mad.
5. Even if the kids don’t say anything, we have opportunities to keep ourselves humble.
Because now when our lesson is a train wreck, there’s proof!
6. We’re fighting the urge to start our summer countdown.
But a countdown until spring break can’t hurt, right?
7. We’re not above accepting charitable donations.
Pride is no longer a factor in our lives–we’ll take whatever we can get.
8. We are one self-care reminder away from snapping.
Would it be too passive-aggressive to add the phrase to our email signature?
9. Even though there have been A LOT of changes, our impressive bladder control has remained a constant.
And sometimes we even forget that we’re allowed to go to the bathroom whenever we want on weekends.
10. We’re happy with attendance in any form at this point.
A kid shows up virtually and keeps their camera and sound off? Great. More than half of the class shows up in person? Remarkable.
11. We’re still unsurprised when students don’t follow our directions.
We’ve trained ourselves to just take deep breaths when someone repeats the same question for the 57th time.
12. “Exhausted” no longer covers how we feel.
Sleeping for an entire week would barely help us recover at this point.
13. And we’re REALLY close to reinstating nap time in the classroom.
We can call it extended mindfulness, right?
14. As always, we wonder how people stay up past 8pm on Friday nights.
And yet, we wake up on Saturday mornings feeling like we’ve been hit by a truck.
15. But despite our exhaustion, our teacher instincts are still going strong.
Yes, we want to sleep, but we know we’re capable of disciplining children in our sleep.
16. We still think we’re the funniest people in the world.
I mean we are…even if the kids don’t want to admit it.
17. We’re getting creative in our descriptions of COVID protocol.
The words that come out of our mouths are ridiculous, but no one is phased.
18. Our procrastination skills are stronger than ever.
We’re wondering how to spin “procrastination” so we can add it as a skill on our resumes.
19. We barely look in the mirror before leaving for the day.
Even if we’re being judged on our appearance, we give ourselves a high five when we show up to work fully clothed. As teachers in 2022, we’re proud just to be wearing pants.
20. And honestly, we’re confused about our coworkers who manage to look put together.
Do they have secret time control powers that we don’t know about?
21. But despite the many reasons to cry every day, at least our students never fail to entertain us.
Are we living an absolutely ridiculous life right now? Yes. But can we at least appreciate the absolutely ridiculous conversations that happen in our classroom every day? Also yes.
We’re not even 10% of the way through 2022, but honestly, we’re done with it. Is it too bold to say that we’re ready for 2023, or should we try not to jinx it?
