Or: I may be lying to myself about how I feel about my students.
i took over a class from an incredibly popular male teacher. I subbed for him for two classes while he was on vacation, and then Halloween I took over the class. All of the students were sad and disappointed, which I expected. I’d rather have him than me. One of the students didn’t show up on Halloween, and I was told they dropped the class the day the change in teachers was announced.
i “didn’t take it personally” because while I know the student in passing, I have never taught them except the two sub days. I just figured they had signed up for the teacher not the subject, so be it.
but yesterday my “dropped” student returned, and I was really happy. Even better - it’s a traditionally male heavy class, and I got a New student yesterday - knowing I was teaching it, a girl picked it up! A girl who barely knows me, but who didn’t sign up for the popular teacher.
i came home so happy I sent out the missing assignment notices for another class that i’ve been putting off in the hope that the work would magically appear. (It never does, but I hate sending the notices. Not enough to go with dh’s solution of “so just give them an F and move on” though. I want them to do the work.)