Alison Fleagle teaches sixth grade at Northern Middle School in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania.

Teaching middle school students can be a bit of a challenge, but one that is well worth it! As a second-year teacher, I still have many of those moments when I sit back, reflect, and think, "Is this the career for me?" But then there are those other days when I say to myself, "This is why I am a teacher!"

This year our faculty instituted a new program. As teachers, we focus on 30 different positive character traits such as dependability, organization, optimism, and thankfulness. The culminating activity was a ceremony where I explained to each student in my homeroom why I was thankful for him or her and gave that individual a purple ribbon to wear (purple is our school color). Well, this activity had a surprising ending for me. As I finished the last student, one of my children (who had been having a rough year with personal issues and appeared "unreachable") asked me, "Where is your ribbon?" I replied, " This is a day I thank you; there is no ribbon for me." She continued, "You need a ribbon!" She found an extra one and pinned it on me saying that I did not understand what I meant to our team and how much the class learned from me and appreciated me. At that point all twenty-three of my homeroom students stood up and clapped, giving me a standing ovation. WOW! What an honor and intrinsic reward to hear such amazing words from an eleven-year-old student! That student who appeared "unreachable" now has a very close bond with me and has accelerated in all areas! When a student says, "Thank you and I appreciate you," all of a sudden all those bad days suddenly disappear and I am reminded I have the most important and wonderfully precious job in the world! I AM A TEACHER!