Why so negative?

The other day I was visiting with another teacher. She asked if I was ready for school to start.  Ecstatically, I replied, "Yes! I was in my room Friday for four hours and will be back on Monday to keep going!"

Her response made me take a step back. "Well, I'm in a different school and have to move all my stuff. But I'm not on contract until August 20th so they won't see me until then. I only have two years to go until retirement."

Really? Only 2 years? Not on contract? I just don't get it. I love my job! I love getting things ready and trying to see our classroom through my students' eyes. I love arranging and rearranging desks and books. I love making name tags, door displays, bulletin boards, display areas, and book boxes. I love getting plans ready for the first week, deciding on community building activities, looking through books, deciding on our first read aloud, and making changes in how I do things. I know there are teachers who don't like those things and who would rather spend every last minute of summer doing summer things. I understand that. I really do. This was the first summer that I haven't spend a little time every week in my classroom because they took our keys from us so we wouldn't come in while work was done in our school. It was a strange and yet exciting time. I was forced to do non-school things (or at least do school-things at home) and not focus on school. I feel rejuvenated and ready to get back to work. I am counting the days until I see my kids again--I looped to 6th grade with them. Spending another year with them will be amazing!

I know that I don't want to be around negative people, and I know students don't want to be in a class with a negative teacher. I've worked with people who are counting the days until they retire. They are so excited to be done with teaching that they have little to no energy left for their students. I never want to be that teacher. I want to focus my energy on my class and enjoy all the time I have with them. They feed off of my energy and I need them to be energized about learning.  How do teachers who are negative get their students excited to learn? I want to be the teacher that students around the building see and say, "Wow! That teacher sure is happy!" I want my smile to inspire others to smile. I want my positivity to be infectious. I want people to say, "Why so positive?"  I will tell them it's because I love my job.

Hope you have a positive day!