J29: Character Sketch - Me + 10 years

The teacher sat at her stark metal desk and stared at the blank wall trying not to fall asleep. She had spent last semester making this room her own, but after taking the posters made by students down and giving her desk, table, and cabinets a thorough cleaning the room seemed somehow colder and was most certainly emptier. The relief of having a sparkling room to start the new semester was lost to a feeling of regret for inadvertently making it so sterile as to be uncomfortable. Luckily, the students were still wound up enough from their Christmas break not to notice. She sighed and wondered suddenly whether changing schools had been the right choice.

In her heart she knew that it had to be better. The school itself is closer to the city and would allow her husband to take the job he was offered nearby. Her best friend had moved to this district and was not only teaching in a building across campus, but would in the coming years be sending her his children to have their English education. The pay is better, as is the insurance. The administration seemed distant, though supportive. The schedule was good - classes she loved teaching. First semester went well and she felt for the first time in years that her students were exceeding not only her expectations, but also the state's. But in spite of all the good logic and reasoning, on this cold January morning she couldn't shake the thought of her kids she left behind. Sure most of her old students were okay with the resignation. They either graduated, didn't care one way or the other, or wouldn't have any more classes with her anyway. But there were some that held fast to her heart. The theatre students. The speech team. The students who met their first success in writing in her class. The few that didn't have any other adult who really cared for them. The many who were not involved in sports or clubs, but felt that at least in her class they were equals. She wondered whether they were still at her old school. Where are they right now? What are they doing? How well is the new teacher reaching them?

The teacher, shivering and near tears, sat at her stark metal desk staring at the wall. The bell rang and she went to the door to greet the students as they came in. As the few minutes passed, the rambunctious kids goofed off before settling into their seats. When the tardy bell sounded the teacher entered a suddenly warmer room. Looking at the row of faces who had seen the passage of fifteen years, she knew it would be okay.