I have always been mistaken in appearance as younger than I am. Always. When I was student teaching in middle school, I needed a band-aid from the nurse to fix a nasty paper-cut (me = wimp. I'm okay with it.) However, before the nurse could give me a band-aid she needed me to clarify if I was a student or a teacher. Mind you, this is happening mere months before I graduate college, become a real teacher, and get married, and she wanted to know if I was a student. at. the. middle. school.
Not so lately. In the eyes of my students, I'm apparently beginning to look quite weathered. Today, one of my students was looking at a picture on my desk from my wedding (taken less than two years ago) and was confused as to why I had the picture. He was asking if it was my sister, having a hard time believing it was me. I thought it was simply because I was so fancy in the picture, since they have never seen me that gussied up, but no. No such luck.
He said "Well, if that's you, then that picture must be really old. Must have been taken in like 1999 or somethin.'"
. . .
(Also, is 1999 really that long ago? Geesh!)
Then later, at choir, I told the kids that I had sung a song they're currently learning when I was in eighth grade. To which one student retorted, "Wow. This song must be really old then."
. . .
So, in my not-quite-two-years of teaching, I have gone from being mistaken as ten years younger to 10 years older than my actual age. Maybe, just once, someone will mistake me for my actual age. A girl can hope, can't she?
Either way, I'm starting to think the relationships I've worked so hard to build with my students for the last two years have begun to backfire. At least I know they feel safe to speak their mind, even if it's making me think Botox.
Aww, aren't they precious!? I have learned that students' ideas of time and age are really REALLY off. Amusing sometimes...like when they tell your boss that she looks like their grandmother. ^_~
ReplyDeleteit's true - kids have noooooo concept of age!!! I had SOOOO many students when I was student teaching, ask me why I wasnt married yet, because I must have seemed so old to them :-) I also am never taken for my own age - I finally dont get carded here in Canada when I order a drink.... but that may be because the drinking age here is 19... lol. Oh well - hope the age comments stop soon! :-)
ReplyDeleteOne day we will appreciate this. At least that's what everyone says, right?
ReplyDeleteKids just don't know... when I was in 3rd grade my mom was turning 35. She asked me if that was old and I said no, 32 is old. Young children just don't have a clue!
It's like those before and after pictures of presidents that people always look at, "WOW! Look how much he aged in only four years!" But faster. I guess you have a lot more stress and responsibility than Lincoln had.
ReplyDeleteYes, kids definitely don't have any concept of age! Last year when Anna (comment above me) came to observe me, I had multiple students ask if she was my daughter, even though they thought I was 25 and she was 24! Silly kids.
ReplyDeleteAnna -- Lincoln ain't got nothin' on me! Well, besides the south seceding, the Civil War, and being assassinated. Just minute details, really.