Things that irritate me

What a misleading title; there are a lot of things that irritate me, but the inspiration for this post was something that happened to me the other day.

Ever since my first day of college, my professors have told me to stay away from "the drags." They said, to my class, "When you walk into a room and hear the teachers complaining, WALK RIGHT BACK OUT." Because once you listen, you'll start complaining, and it is just unprofessional.

In my current position, I work with primarily with special ed students. I am, for the most part, cheery and upbeat. I have an off day every so often, but I rarely complain 'seriously.' I'll joke, and tease, about being unhappy, but it's always with a smile on my face. I don't believe I have the seniority to complain, and I hope I never will.

Well, there are definitely some complainers where I work, but more than that there are people I find degrading. Not always, and not to me, but to the students. And, granted, their pokes and prods, go right over the students' heads--they don't have the mental capacity to see things on the same levels as we do. It irritates me.

This isn't to say the people I work with are bad; they are genuinely great people. However, I am not comfortable with the fact they choose to amuse themselves the way they do sometimes. Maybe I'll see things differently after 20+ years of teaching, but I hope not.

I am fortunate enough to work with a student who is completely "with it." My student keeps me from joining that dark side of the education world; i not for my student, who knows where I'd be or how I'd feel. She keeps me in line.

Well, the point of this post? I've recently volunteered myself to help out another student. I don't work with her, I just make sure she gets where she's going, because this student has, perhaps, a processing problem? I'm not sure. I don't ask, but I tried fishing for a little information to try to understand this student.

I was sitting at lunch with another, less gossipy, tech. I asked about said student, and the fact this student repeats and always asks questions, hoping to figure out more about this student I was working with. But it just lead to more stories and laughs.

All I wanted to know was how I could help said student, but I give up.