TV teachers make me uncomfortable

Most of you have the pleasure of watching fictional teachers on screen and getting a good laugh. Unfortunately for me, the gnawing self-awareness that the media brings to my profession is often unbearable. Not because they got it all wrong, rather they got it just right. Uhhh. Many high-school-centered shows know that a good laugh is a given if it pokes fun at a teacher. Another sigh. I generally find myself letting out a nervous giggle/snort as they depict a frustrated teacher jumping to reach a projector screen that has been recoiled above their grasp. Or, as the interested and busy English teacher battles her bra-strap in a rather pathetic way.

For me, I'm sent questioning each day, "Is this something that my students can relate to an episode from the WB?" When a student tries to get me to date the thrice divorced Math teacher, is this just another Miss Geist/Mr. Hall moment from "Clueless?" Do I appear lonely and stuck in a rather rigid grading scale in need of a relationship? Is this what my 50 in. flat screen is telling me (yep)?

At the end of the day, I wander to the movies like any other single professional. Of course, while I'm there, I will in no doubt be greeted by a group of 9th grade mall rats. They say hi and we chat for a moment about how this is their 7th time seeing "Twilight." I feel cool, I feel with it. (Because I said "with it," does that cancel out my coolness?? I digress.) However, as confident as I feel about that interaction, I can't help but think, "Was their sighting me outside of school like watching a dog walk on its hind legs?"

Ruff, ruff.