Tagged as a Teacher
Posted by Diane Badden on 28 Dec 2009 | Posted in: Classroom Management, Inspiration and Motivation, Life After School, Teachers and Teaching, The Mailbox Books
Does this happen to you too? A few Saturdays ago, after running errands for several hours, I decided to pick up dinner on my way home. I’m sure I was looking fairly tousled. I don’t remember exactly what I was wearing; however, my usual Saturday attire this time of year is tennis shoes, an oversize sweater, and some comfy pants. Oh, and on weekends I usually keep my contacts in their case and sport my spectacles. Anyway, I was paying for my takeout and making idle conversation with the cashier—a pleasant twenty-something male with a big grin and a few piercings—when he asked, “Are you a teacher?”
Whenever this has happened before, I have confirmed the person’s suspicion and then walked away wondering what it is about me that shouts, “I’m a teacher!” Is it the way I dress? Is it my mannerisms? What is it? This time, I asked.
“What makes you think I’m a teacher?” I inquired with a smile.
“Just a vibe,” the cashier replied.
There was no 
way I was letting that reply stay unexplained! “Good or bad?” I asked.
This is when the cashier flashed his big grin and revealed yet another piercing. “A bit of both,” he clarified. “You know, like you’re someone I could really relate to; but, you know, I think you’d set me straight when I got out of line.”
After that, I didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d miscalculated my change. After all, it was only a dollar short, and I had gotten my answer.
Yes, I’m a teacher!
Diane
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26 Responses to “Tagged as a Teacher”
More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] 3 » Show All Comments
More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] 3 » Show All Comments
I want to be tagged as a teacher. Hopefully, my time is coming. I have passed all tests and received my MAT, but have not passed the Gallop yet. Oh, I can’t wait to be tagged as a teacher!!!!
I think because a teacher knows she sets an example for others, and is a role-model, we “act” like a teacher in the life choices we make. It’s a dead give away.
I’m very proud of being a Kindergarten teacher! I am always tagged as a teacher-Could it be the seasonal sweaters and color coordinated Chuck Taylor High Tops/crooks? Whatever it is—I’m proud of being tagged–.
My husband is fond of critiquing my new clothes purchases. He often will look at a piece and tells me it is my school marm look!
I, too have been tagged as a teacher, and often by kids. While at my son’s little league game, leaning against the fence watching the game, a little boy came rushing up to me. “Hey! Those kids over there are picking on me,” he said to me while grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the hill. Now, he wasn’t a child I knew or who knew me, he just “made” me as a teacher, someone who could settle a playground dispute. And… he was right. I went over to the bullies used my teacher voice, settled the matter. and they returned to their play.
I was shopping with my son and asked him to get me the tomato juice with a “t” not the vegetable juice with a “v.” The lady behind me in line tagged me - as a teacher herself. I get in more trouble from my mom, though, when I use my “teacher voice.”
I have been tagged as a teacher more times than I can count. Can it be that I’ve just taught so many middle schoolers that now I see them wherever I go? When they call my name, others hear and know. I think we gain an aura that connects with people’s memories of teachers they have had, both good and bad (more good, I hope!)
Yes, I’ve been tagged as a teacher. Many years ago when my brother got married, his future brother-in-law was tasked to pick me up at the airport, never having even seen a picture of me. When he saw me at the gate, he told me that he picked me out of the crowd right away because I was the only one who looked like a teacher.:)
I too get tagged as a teacher. Like Deborah, it is hard to lose the “teacherness” in each of us. The only reason that I can think others tag me as a teacher is my attitude, my compulsive need to correct others’ grammer and spelling.
Yes, this has happened many, many times. I take it as a compliment but can’t figure out how they know. (Now, of course, when I’m the only one wearing the Christmas sweaters, I know I won’t fool anybody! Ha!)
This also happens to me quite a bit. I decided I wanted to flag on road construction one summer when school was out. It is one of those jobs I thought would be neat to do when I was in high school. While flagging and holding the STOP sign the one trucker said he knew this wasn’t my fulltime career and thought I was a teacher. When I asked why he said that, he said my grammer was too good and I did not behave like the other workers. It is interesting on the impressions you leave without saying anything.
I totally agree with everything said.