Why Do You Do It? The most infamous question in a teacher's life

Special Needs teachers laugh when they hear people say the following things:

Your job is so easy...you only have 12 kids!

Truth: In most schools the self contained teachers have up to 3 three different grades in their classroom. They are expected to teach 3 different curriculum at the same time to students who are an average of 2 grade levels below in their abilities from where they should be! Imagine working in an office where you are doing 3 people's jobs and and you have equipment that is extremely outdated and not working properly. We also tend to have the children who have been removed from other classrooms due to behavioral issues.  I have been pushed, threatened and cursed at by my students.
Would you call that job "easy"? I would say this is a fair comparison for what our job is like.

Teachers are in it for the money.
Truth: My husband works for NYC too as a firefighter. By his 5th year, he will make nearly double what my base pay is after 5 years. Not to mention the thousands of dollars I have spent of my own money on my classroom. I spend an average of $800 dollars on my classroom every year and the most I was ever reimbursed was $150. (Which was cut this year by the way!)

But you get summers off!
Truth: Most teachers have to take 2nd and 3rd jobs to live so they usually work over the summers. They also tend to tutor for money over the summer. We also use the summer for creating curriculum calendars and lesson plans.  I will be taking classes and going to seminars to start collecting the 175 hours of professional development that NYS mandates I complete every 5 years just to KEEP my teaching licenses! (And all of the seminars, certifications and conferences I have attended over the last 5 years DOES NOT count. )

All of these myths, when debunked, usually lead to 2 inevitable questions...then why the hell do you do this job? Are you crazy or on crack?

This answer is not simple. It changes from day to day. There is nothing like the moment you realize you may have changed a child's life. When a child reads a sentence for the first time because of you, you have a feeling in your heart that is overwhelming. When a parent starts the year thinking you are too hard on their child and then at the end of the year pleads with your administrator to keep their child in your class, you are overcome. I have students who hated school because they read at a kindergarten level by the 3rd grade,  who now beg me to do a running record with them because they are improving by at least one level each month!

Are all teachers great at their jobs? No. Are all teachers in it for the right reasons? No. Some go into the field believing the above mentioned myths and spend their years angry and bitter when they realize the truth. But most of us do this job to change lives.

My favorite quote sums up why I do my job:

"...he found something that he wanted, had wanted and always would want-not to be admired as he had feared; not to be loved,as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable. " F. Scott Fitzgerald - " This Side of Paradise "