Hidden teacher talents

Feeling rather used and discarded. Come on! Recycle it, and come back better and stronger!

Original post here: http://kiri8.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/teacher-talents/

So I wasn't tagged or anything, but I read the post above and thought it was an awesome idea. It's been a couple months since I first stumbled upon it, and now is as good a time as any to make a list of my own hidden teacher talents. It's an even better time now than before, as I'm feeling down, and unhappy, and disgruntled with the general state of affairs as well as my own sad, sorry life. Yep, it's a good time to think about the things that make me a good teacher. I can:

1. Make students at their own mistakes.
2. Make students cry - sometimes on the outside, but ALWAYS on the inside - when their actions are disappointing.
3. Then lift them up again to start all over afterwards.
4. Know the difference between the "fake pee" dance and the real one.
5. Know the difference between "fake tired/sick" and real tired/sick.
6. Make an achievement as small as adding negative integers correctly into the grandest, most honestly awe-inspiring thing accomplished ever.
7. Scare the living day-lights out of students with my cold, cool, calm presence in the face of a blow-up situation. Parents and other teachers also get a little intimidated by this, so I'm told.
8. Make the copy machine(or printer) copy(or print) something even when the "empty ink cartridge" is protesting.
9. Improvise lessons on the spot.
10. Push my students to their limits, and then push them harder until they discover that they've outgrown those old limits.
11. Fix a broken chair/desk/projector/window/drawer with only duct tape.
12. Teach a class of 30 - with only 20 textbooks.