Mrs. Anna said it best

If you've ever seen The King and I, you know that Mrs. Anna is the teacher that is brought to Siam to teach Western ways to the princes and princesses. In one of her many songs, she mentions that "... if you become a teacher, by your pupils you'll be taught..."

and boy have I been learning!

I've learned that math is totally different from when I learned it in school. That the two parts of Congress are the Senate and the White House of Representatives. That a reason for giving an answer was "because it sounded good". That random facts are excellent distractions to a teacher giving notes. And that every teacher exhibits a bit of "ADD" on a daily basis.

I've been learning that socks with holes are reason to interrupt lessons. The most annoying thing to hear is "Can I ask you a question?" for no reason at all. That any other topic is more important than the one that is being presented at the moment. And every subject in school can be related (randomly or not) to something that happened to them yesterday, last week/month/year, or "when I was little".

Laughter is said to be the best medicine. Whomever said this must have had access to children, for they are the best source of laughter. They laugh at themselves, each other, the teacher, the silly noises they make, whatever it is that strikes them funny. And being a contagious disease, laughter spreads from one student to the next, throughout the class, and eventually to me. So I guess I'm going to be the smartest, healthiest teacher in the business by the time I'm ready to be done.

To think that I'm at the beginning of a lengthy career in education makes me ask just one question: If I keep learning, what am I going to do with all this information? My family thinks I should write a book!