05/12/2025
My Thursday Morning as a Teacher
(I always try to share the fun parts of teaching, but I also try to be real. Some days are great, and some days… not so much. If you like these honest moments from a teacher’s life, stay with me.)
Let me be honest with you…
This morning wasn’t pretty.
Teaching is beautiful work, but it’s also heavy work — a kind of weight you don’t notice building up until one morning you wake up and feel all your years at once.
It’s not the kids.
It’s not the school.
It’s just the life of a teacher… the long weeks, the late nights, the early mornings, the nonstop decisions, and the way December hits harder when you’ve been in the classroom for 9 years in the UAE, carrying students and lessons day after day.
I got out of bed later than I planned, still feeling yesterday on my shoulders.
I didn’t shower last night because I was simply exhausted, so I forced myself into one this morning just to wake up.
When it came to getting dressed… I grabbed the same pants from yesterday because they weren’t that dirty and everything I needed was already in the pockets.
Decision fatigue is real.
I pulled a shirt that I wore once but still looked okay.
Not exactly a “perfect teacher morning.”
You'd think that after 9 years of teaching, I would walk into school with the day fully planned and a brilliant idea ready.
But the truth?
I stood in my classroom this morning — cold weather outside, students already tired, December energy everywhere — and I had absolutely no idea what today’s lesson was going to be.
Just me, my quiet room, and the weight of the month sitting on my back.
So I did what teachers do.
I thought.
I paced.
I looked around the room.
And then randomly, one small idea popped into my head — nothing fancy, nothing perfect — just a spark.
From that spark, I built a simple plan.
A quick activity.
Something meaningful.
Something my Grade 6 boys could work on, something a few of them might actually enjoy, and something real enough to keep the lesson alive while I catch my breath and reset for the rest of the week.
And somehow… that little idea gave me hope.
Because even on a tired Thursday morning, even when I’m wearing yesterday’s clothes, there is still a part of me that keeps trying.
Not perfection.
Not Pinterest.
Just showing up with what I have and hoping it’s enough.
Teachers — if you’re reading this — let me tell you:
You’re not failing because you’re tired.
You’re not a bad teacher because your shirt isn’t ironed or because your lesson didn’t magically appear at 6 a.m.
Some days, “I’m here, and I’m trying” is a huge victory.
Some days, the real magic is simply showing up with whatever energy you have left and giving it to your students anyway.
And to anyone who loves a teacher…
Please give them some grace this month.
We’re running on fumes, but we’re still running.
We’re thinking, planning, worrying, hoping, and carrying students in ways people never see.
Today wasn’t perfect.
But it was honest.
It was real.
And sometimes, that’s exactly where the best teaching happens.
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