Wow, I love my job

I've always been aware that it's important to have the respect of your students, but it's never really hit me how absolutely incredible it can feel. I have one student who I just ran into in the hallway, after a kind of "meh" sort of lesson, in which he was consistently disengaged (to be fair, he came into the room pretty unfocused). I talked to him about it in the hallway, "What happened in there, man? You were totally out of it, even before you came in."

He paused just a moment, offered me his hand, and said, "I'm sorry, man. I'll get it back together." As I shook his hand, he gave me a chuck on the shoulder, even. It was a really touching moment, and I really felt that he was sincerely concerned that I was disappointed in what he'd done in class.

I walked straight into my office, and just about broke into tears. I love this job, in ways I had only dreamed about.