Teenage Teacher

There are advantages and disadvantages to being a young teacher. People often ask me whether I have issues with authority over older students because I am so young, but the truth is that most Grade 8 students are thrilled to have a teacher who looks the same age as them. As soon as they spot me, I hear whispers of, "She's so young!", "She looks like a teenager!", and "She looks really nice!" The truth is that I don't look any nicer than any other teacher, I simply look relatable. I am instantly viewed as hip and cool, and I don't correct their perceptions by sharing that I read the entire Harry Potter series this summer for the third time, and my favourite pass-time in high school was self-induced solitary confinement in the library.

While my youthful appearance makes me popular amongst the students, it often confuses my fellow teachers. I can't count the number of times I have heard:

"How old are you?"
"Are you sure you're a Missus?"
"You must have been a child bride!"
"You make me feel old."

Once, while on yard duty, I saw a principal hesitantly approaching me across the field. I walked to meet him, and when I was within a few metres he called out to ask me my name. I told him my name and who I was in for that day, and with a sigh of relief he said, "Oh, good! I thought you were a student and someone had forgotten their yard duty today." Let me remind you this was an elementary school. I was mistaken for a 13-year-old.

However, this slightly embarrassing occasion does not compare to one I experienced the prior year. Working both as a supply teacher and a restaurant waitress, I had the immense privilege (*note the sarcasm) of serving one of my Grade 8 students and his mother. Upon noticing that her son recognized me, the mother knowingly smiled, leaned over to him and not-so-quietly asked, "Is this pretty girl someone I should know about, Matt?" As her son attempted to simultaneously shake his head, slink under the table, and turn the approximate shade of a beet root, I explained that I was, in fact, her son's teacher. Rather than an apology for creating the most awkward situation of my teaching and waitressing career, the mother simply said, "But you look like a teenager!"

Well, I can't fault her for telling the truth. Most of my female Grade 8 students wear more make-up than me, are more stylish than me, and look 3-5 years older than me. I know one day I will be glad to be mistaken for a student, so for now I will not complain about being referred to as "the teenage teacher".