The other morning as I drove into the neighborhood where my school is located, a bird decided to fly alongside my car for awhile.  I felt a little like Mary Poppins or Giselle from Enchanted, imagining the two of us singing together on this bright, sunny spring morning and I laughed out loud.  I had that same feeling today as I drove to school to help with a PTO flower sale.  Families were out working in their yards and washing their cars, listening to music, kids playing in their driveways in front of their perfect homes with the manicured grass and flower gardens.

My school fits this neighborhood perfectly, all brand new and sparkling with all the latest of everything.  It’s not perfect of course, as there are the usual issues with behaviors, crazy schedules and little daily stresses, but all in all, everything is pretty Disney-esque.  Lots of nice looking younger teachers, dressed very nicely, with beautiful smiles.  They fit the clientele very well.  Not really sure where I fit in – maybe the old evil queen or wise old wizard?

Anyway, I found myself feeling pretty lucky, not just because I get to work in this little fantasy world, but mostly because of a Facebook page I’ve joined recently called I’m a General Music Teacher.  While most of the posts are about programs and lesson plans there are also posts about difficult teaching circumstances.  Administration that doesn’t  support them, custodial staff that refuses to help them, parents who abuse them, lack of materials, teaching on a cart, sharing the gym during PE (I can’t even imagine) and more.  There are verbal abuses going on that are beyond my comprehension with teachers sharing issues with physical ailments brought on by the stress.

I survived something similar where the administrator was a bully and the kids and parents were abusive.  I quit after a year and considered leaving teaching.  But now I’m living in wonderland, a place where most parents are involved, support their kids, and are complimentary of my work, a place where kids have just about anything they want in a beautiful little neighborhood.  A place where I have a room large enough to land a plane in, as my husband says, with all of the equipment and curriculum resources I need and a budget large enough to add even more things for my kids to use.  A place where I can drive to or from school and have kids shout my name and wave as I go by.

I wonder about all of those teachers who are teaching in less than idyllic circumstances, with students who aren’t fortunate enough to live in that perfect little neighborhood, who perhaps don’t have parents who support them, who struggle not only academically but physically and emotionally as well.  And while I only have a few students I have to be concerned with in terms of major behavioral issues, I think about those teachers who deal with major issues in a majority of their classrooms. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t survive in some of those schools and I think about how I admire those teachers who are stronger than I am, who are more patient or persistent than I am.

I find myself grateful for an administration who supports what I do and trusts me to be the professional I am.  I am grateful for an excellent staff of custodians who bend over backwards to help me, even to point of anticipating what I might need ahead of time.  I am grateful to colleagues who share their time with me and I always hope they feel I’m as flexible as they are.  I have a supervisor and a principal who support me in my work with our national music education organization and supply me with needed professional days.  And on top of it all, unlike some of my colleagues in other states, I get paid pretty well for what I do because I work in a district who cares about and respects their teachers. What more could I ask for?  I’m a lucky girl.

I have kids who, for the most part, seem to enjoy my class and leave me great little notes, pictures and occasional gifts in appreciation. Like May Day baskets.  Seriously, I’ve never gotten May Day baskets in any other place I’ve taught.  Are there bad days?  Well of course – anytime time there’s a full moon, right before a major storm and a holiday the place is nuts.  I mean things like Pajama Day can be rough.  But I find myself stopping this weekend to think about how lucky I am and maybe I need to remember that more often.  I mean, who wouldn’t love to live like Mary Poppins in a Disney-esque world?