The Pulse, The Teacher, and the Decompression

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

Who do you spend time with the most? How would your life and personality be different without them?

As strange as it sounds, I probably spend more time with my students—at least during the school year—than I do with anyone else.

Without them, my life would be considerably different. First and foremost, that is my job. If it wasn’t for my students, I wouldn’t have a career. As to how my personality would be without them, I’m sure I would probably be a lot less witty. Likewise, I probably wouldn’t possess even the slightest modicum of “with-it-ness” without them.

It’s true I have Kid 1 and Kid 2, but Kid 2 is ten and Kid 1 is in college. He has finally surpassed the age of any of my students. That’s a realization that speaks to the longevity of my career—I’ve been doing this long enough to have a child older than the people I teach. It would be hard to keep my finger on the pulse of adolescent culture without my students—at least for the next few years, anyway. I try real hard to stay one step ahead of my kids, wit-wise. One thing some other staff members have told me is that the kids have said they actually enjoy hearing the witty one-liners that I fire back at them. I take a lot of pride in that. If “the guy with the quick comeback” is how I’m remembered, I’ll take it.

The Human Connection in a Digital World

In my current school format, where the curriculum is entirely online, that quick wit is a lifeline. It is something I use to maintain a human connection that the platform tries to strip away. But even when I am doing traditional teacher-led instruction, I keep that witty repartee. It’s fun to see them try to say something they think makes them look cool, only for me to call them out on it.

That “with-it-ness” serves as both part of my Teacher Armor and a way to humanize myself to them. The truth is, I wasn’t born of their generation. I don’t know what it’s like to be a teenager in 2026. That’s an experience I’ll never know. But talking to them gives me insight into their world that keeps me grounded.

The Cost of the Mindset

I’m currently on Midwinter Break, and to be honest, I feel a lot more like a regular human being again. Teaching isn’t digging ditches, but it requires a mindset that people in a 9-to-5 office don’t always understand. They can go to the bathroom whenever they need to; they can slip out for a doctor’s appointment without writing a mountain of sub plans.

Every year, I find that it takes the first two weeks of summer vacation just to “decompress” and get back into regular life mode. It’s a unique kind of exhaustion. I’m a teacher at my core, but as I’m learning during this break, the armor has to come off eventually if I’m going to find the man underneath.

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AI art created with Google Gemini.

Today’s post is inspired by the WordPress Daily Prompt. While I’ve taken the topic in my own direction for the Road to 1,000 Days, you can find more responses to today’s prompt HERE .

The article “The Pulse, The Teacher, and the Decompression” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.