WHAT I am

I feel so blessed to know WHO I am. I am Kristi. I am the daughter of Bill and Rita and the sister to Les. I am a grand-daughter of Christine and AC and Jim and Joann. I am sister-in-law to Amanda. I am the wife of Curtis. I am the mommy of Chloe Marie and Trinity Grace. That is me, that is who I am.

I am also blessed to know WHAT I am. I am a teacher. I decided to be a teacher kind of on a whim. Midland College was having a career day and Tech had a table set up for the education department. I talked to them and something clicked. I went home that day and told my parents that I wanted to teach. My dad and I went on a walk that evening, and he asked me why. I told him that I knew that someday I would be a mommy and that teachers had the best hours for moms! Although, that is still very true and a great perk, I became a teacher for so many more reasons, that I was unaware of at the time.

I went through college and loved and excelled in all of my classes. Still, had no clue what I was getting myself into. I was soon to figure out.

I am about to end my 7th year of teaching school. I love my job. I have realized over the years that teaching is not a job you take for the hours (or the pay!), but its a job you take with your heart. Your heart has got to be in that building with you every day. My heart IS.

I am not only a teacher of science and language arts, I am so much more. For some students, I am a safe place, a shelter from the storm. For some students I am the reason they love coming to school. For some kids, I am the reason they have decided to try at school. For some kids I am a comedian. I get to give kids experiences. I get to give them joy. I get to give them success. Me. I get to do those things on a daily basis. It is awesome.

Teaching is two way street. I may be all of those things to my students, but they are so much to me too. My students make me confident. My students make me laugh. My students give me strength. My students make this job completely worth every minute.

I am sitting here, on a Saturday morning counting down the days to the last day of school. But not the same way most teachers count down the days to the end of school. I am thinking, "9 days, 9 days, thats all I have left with these kids". I only have 9 days with these kids left, 9 days to spend with some of the most incredible people. It is sad. It is really hard to say goodbye to kids that I have gotten to know so well.

So, that is WHAT I am. A teacher. I am so thankful to God for giving me this gift. The gift of teaching, the gift of taking what could be boring information and making it fun, the gift of making hard things understandable, the gift of loving someone elses child, the gift of compassion, the gift.

I love the summer time. I love having time with my kids at home. I love the time off to rejuvenate! I am thankful for the time that my job allows me with the family.

Teacher: Its WHAT I am.

**update**
About an hour after I wrote this post, Chloe and I went swimsuit shopping at the mall (for her!). While breaking through a crowd at the mall, I hear "There is Mrs. McKnight!" I turned around and saw a big group of kids from Murry Fly Elementary. It was so cool to see these kids. They are soon to be Freshman! It was pretty awesome to hear that they are doing great.