A teacher’s day can be crazy, unpredictable, and downright emotional. Now throw in the month of May, and you can multiply that craziness by 10. Here are 16 emotions that most teachers experience in just a few short hours during the end-of-year madness. Hang in there teachers. Summer is almost here!
7:30 AM: POOPED
You were up late grading papers, and now you’re trying to figure out how to cram in a good, grade-level summary of all human knowledge before school is out. Why aren’t coffee cups bigger?
7:45 AM: TRIUMPHANT
You’re looking over your lesson plans for the day and are feeling pretty gosh darn brilliant. Has anyone ever in the history of teaching come up with a more clever way to explain that math concept?
7:50 AM: IRRITABLE
The copier (possibly infested with mice?) is acting up again, and you need those handouts RIGHT NOW!
8:00 AM: UNIMPRESSED
Half your students didn’t turn in their homework assignment, the one you spent 5 minutes reminding them about yesterday. Seriously?
8:30 AM: FLOP-SWEAT NERVOUS
A member of your administration team just showed up unexpectedly to “observe.” Oh boy. Let the awkward moments and weird questions begin. Oh great, your students are trying to help you out by being very, very talkative, in a way that just seems fake.
8:45 AM: SURPRISED
One of your shyest students speaks up, showing she really does understand all those concepts you’ve been teaching for weeks. Wow, moments like these make you remember why you wanted to be a teacher in the first place.
9:30 AM: OVERWHELMED
It’s your planning period, and you have no idea where to begin. You have 12 emails to answer, 2 parents to call, fellow staff to talk to, and you wouldn’t mind visiting the rest room …
9:35 AM: PERPLEXED
You got an email that says the new math curriculum you switched to a few months ago now doesn’t meet state standards. Huh?
10 AM: EXCITED
Only 5 minutes until recess!!!!! The kids think recess is all about them, but you love it just as much as they do.
10:05 AM: BLISSFUL
Your students head out for recess. You survey the silent room, sit at the edge of your desk, breathe in, and luxuriate in the silence and solitude. Time for a stick of gum and five minutes on Facebook, or a half chapter of the novel you’re reading, or a chance to answer emails.
10:25 AM: TREPIDATIOUS
You’re starting a new science unit, and last time you did an experiment your students broke two of the beakers you bought with your own money. “Please don’t let this be a Back-to-the-Future moment,” you think.
11:15 AM: RELIEVED
As you look at your reflection in the bathroom mirror, you wonder if this is what Broadway stars feel like backstage, between the first and second act.
11:20 AM: ENVIOUS
While you’re wolfing down your leftovers from last night’s dinner, you think about your friends with their “office jobs,” taking long lunches at restaurants, where they probably drink fountain sodas with the good kind of crunchy ice while they laugh and laugh at funny, inappropriate jokes and trade investment tips.
11:30 AM: GRATEFUL
Your teacher BFF stops by to check on your day. In just a glance exchanged, you both know exactly the kind of rollercoaster day you’re having–full of trials and triumphs, confusion, fun and sweetness.
12:05 PM: EXHAUSTED
Wait, is it normal to feel like you’ve run a marathon and given birth all in one day? Come on…get it together! You have a whole afternoon left!
12:15 PM: HOPEFUL
Despite your day being far from over, you look out at your classroom and see those little faces you’ve come to love over the past nine months. Those faces remind you why you wanted to be a teacher in the first place. Yep, you’ve got this.
Download the PDF of our 16 Emotions Poster right here.
