Me&my pupils

5 min readDec 8, 2021

Hello there, how are you today?

Here, I’m pretty good. It’s six in the morning, it’s a holiday day here. I could have slept further I guess, but I kinda like waking up this early anyway, so… I’ll take this as a gift.

My thought, as every morning, goes to my little pupils. You already know I’m a teacher so… come with me into the classroom, while I’m sure they’re all still asleep.

First things first: I LOVE THEM A LOT.

I love to think about Them as my personal Army.

Don’t be fooled: my job is not easy. It’s stressful and challenging, especially during a pandemic. I risk a burnout once or twice every month, sometimes week, sometimes day; but still I feel like I’m blessed by the Universe every time I step in front of the classroom. And I’m going to explain in details why.

1. They remember me I have a purpose.

Nowadays, this is not granted. In our modern world, stress eats us. We, the adults, live our lives running as if we were chased by some Demon. As parents, we often forget how it feels like to be a child. If you’re a parent, please, take care of yourself: I think your job is the most difficult in the world. I’m not judging you.

But I look them in their eyes, and they tell me the truth.

So, every time I hear: “Teacher? Teacher? Teacher?” (happens all the time every day) I answer and listen.

I’m the adult, after all. In their eyes, I’m a God with all the possible answers in one single mind. Even to questions like:

“Teacher, is it true that a meteorite is hurtling toward the planet?”

Well, as far as I know right now, no it’s not. If it is, let’s hope that we, as humans, are actually capable of destroying it before it’s too late.

2. They are curious and clever.

Believe me here: as a teacher, nothing is better to me than seeing curious people all around, blessed by a unique brain that dances with a unique pattern. Each and everyone of them has struggles in learning.

But they are little Warriors.

They’re not discouraged by failure. They don’t give up. Sometimes they’re a bit lazy, but I am too. Everyone is. Still, when they fail they try again and again and again.

They try to learn to focus in this modern world, that taught them how to do the exact opposite without them even realizing it. They know no self defense against technology. And still, THEY LEARNT TO FOCUS.

3. They hope.

Fellas, they’re not fools. They know what’s happening to this world, and of course I mean the climate crisis. I have to teach about that too, you know? They keep asking: “Will we survive? Will there be life on the planet when we’ll be the adults?”

And okay, there I lie a little bit.

I tell them sure, we will, it will.

Sure, we’ll find a way out.

Sure, Science is there for us.

Sure, there is clever people all around and they will do something to change the odds.

Look, as an adult, I don’t really believe it today. But they need to hope anyway.

And I hope with Them, they’re kinda contagious you know?

4. They smile.

My little pupils have to wear a face mask, as me, every day. They keep it on, covering also the nose. And believe me, not all of them liked it in the beginning. But they adapted.

They realize how Covid can create a cluster and spread to their families. They protect their parents and grandparents with no effort at all, or at least that’s what they show me.

Their eyes sparkle with joy anyway. They laugh. They make jokes. They play with each other.

Well, Darwin law is proud of them, believe me.

Take care out there, fellas. Be safe.

5. They’re my personal heroes.

I love to write, but I love also my job. I don’t care if I have to work eleven or twelve hours a day.

I don’t feel like I’m working most of the times.

I don’t care if some adults keeps saying that we, the Teachers, should work all year long with these little kids (that deserve a vacation as we did when we were kids, and this is and always will be my personal opinion). I don’t care if we’re always criticized.