It has been quite some time since I have sat down and blogged about my life. This past September, I started my 26th year of teaching. I can’t believe that it has been 26 years. I can still remember my students from my very first year of teaching. In fact I had some of these student’s children in my classes over the past couple of years. In October, I got a student teacher. Let’s just say it has been a learning experience for everyone.
I have learned to be patient with the next generation of teachers. Honestly, I am happy and thankful that there are young individuals that want to take on the career of teaching.Teaching in 2026 is definitely not an easy career. Even though at first, I tried to “return him” and be as “cold as ice” to scare him away, I don’t regret this experience.
I hope my student teacher has learned a lot from me- I know that I learned a lot from him. One thing for sure –– I still love my personal space!
fwoHere is what I hope he has learned from this experience.
Teaching is hard but rewarding
You have to be flexible each and every day
You have to plan and expect to replan in the moment
It is better to overplan than underplan
Make sure you are ready for class before class starts
You have to be able to PIVOT (IYKYK) all the time
Building strong relationships with students will make or break your classroom experience
Building strong relationships with parents will only make your teaching experience better
It is not about the salary or the perks of the district, but more about your colleagues and who you get to work with everyday. I am so grateful that throughout my 26 years, I have had phenomenal colleagues. They have supported me through my good days as well as my bad days.
Some lessons bomb
Students appreciate honesty
Students crave structure and order
Respect is mutual
A student mastering a difficult topic and watching it all start to click makes the hard days all worth it
Middle school will keep you young
Print out the positive notes and emails and read them on the bad days
Teaching is hard but rewarding
For one last assignment, I had him write down some of the lessons that he learned throughout the year. I am glad that some of mine from the above list made his list.
Then in December, I celebrated 14 years cancer free! It still amazes me how much time has gone by. I still believe the days are long but the years are short.
This past April, I had the opportunity to join my daughters up at college and speak about my cancer diagnosis and recovery. It was such an amazing experience to be a part of Fashion for a Cure. I truly loved watching women support women and raise money to help fight cancer. Thank you, Ruthie, for pushing me to do this and for helping make it all work out. Thank you, Elisheva, for being so supportive throughout the experience. Your stealing of my phone and taking a random photo shoot- helped calm my nerves and made me laugh. Thank you, Chabad of Binghamton, for having me and making me feel so welcome.
While writing my speech, my daughters and I went through past blog pieces. I had forgotten some of what I had written and it was really neat to listen to my daughters talk about the entries. I am really glad that I took the time in the moment to record the good, the bad, and the ugly, and of course the funny. Thank you, Mom, for taking the time and printing out all of the entries.
I was definitely nervous the days leading up to the speech. I was definitely nervous on the ride to Binghamton. I was definitely nervous the moments before I spoke. Even after I started speaking, I was still nervous. I know I am a teacher and I stand up in front of people all day long, however, giving a speech to a room full of adults was out of my comfort zone.
Several adults came up to me after I had spoken and told me what my speech meant to them. Young women came up to me and shared their thoughts. Hearing all of these comments made all the nervousness worth it.
Below is the speech that I gave for Fashion for a Cure. I know it is long but it makes up for not writing my blog for a couple of years.
Good evening,
My name is Rachel Isler, the mother of Ruthie and Elisheva Isler and I am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed at the age of 33.
I often look at my life in two different time periods. I look at it as “before cancer” and “after diagnosis.” Every cancer patient has his or her own story with his or her own motivation to get them through the journey. I was very young when I was diagnosed. I had three small children, my youngest, Shua, had just turned one. Mothers always take care of their children and after diagnosis, I struggled with being able to take care of my children in the way I did “before cancer.” There were days that I was unable to get out of bed and days that I never left the couch. There were days that I had to stay away from my children because I had little to no immune system and children are a breeding ground for germs. After I went back to work the struggles continued. Everyday I taught a full day, then went to radiation, picked up the two younger children and rushed home to get my oldest off the bus from school. At the time, it seemed impossible. I relied on my family, friends, and colleagues to help me navigate this seemingly impossible journey. Through it all, I had the goal of pushing onward to be there for Ruthie, Elisheva, and Shua, my children, my motivation.
People often say that it takes a village to raise a family. In my case this was absolutely accurate. I am so grateful that I belonged to a Jewish community. My Jewish community made sure that there were meals on the table and that my children were able to attend activities when necessary. My community had young teens volunteer hours in my home, helping take care of my children while I rested and recovered. There is no way I would have been able to heal properly without the help of my family, friends, and community members. There is no way I would have been able to beat cancer without Stephen. Stephen is my husband and also my best friend. He was there with me from the start of the journey and held my hand through each stage. He went to doctor appointments with me. He was my voice when I just couldn’t talk. He was the one who asked the hard questions. And through it all, he continued to joke with me, helping me laugh and smile. We all know that laughter is the best medicine.
Sharsheret was also a big part of my journey. Sharsheret means chain in Hebrew. Chains are made up of different links and Sharsheret helped link me to many valuable resources. They provided a busy box for my girls. It included puzzles and coloring books and different activities to keep the girls happy while I was going to my treatments. They provided me with some make up to help me feel pretty at a time when I didn’t particularly feel pretty. Sharsheret also linked me to other young women who had similar experiences as I was having. This was very important for my mental health. Even today, I am a resource for newly diagnosed breast cancer women. I am honored to be a link in their chain to help them fight cancer. For the past ten years around Thanksgiving, my family and I have participated in my community's baking for Sharsheret. We usually will bake anywhere from 10-14 chocolate chip pies to help raise money for Sharsheret.
As I mentioned earlier, my motivation was my children. I wanted to be there for them as they grew up. I wanted to see them reach their milestones such as losing their first tooth, learning to ride a bike and graduating from kindergarten. I wanted to see them advance from 8th grade and graduate from high school. And pretty soon, I will see my oldest child graduate from Binghamton University. Of course at the moment, I couldn’t see that far into the future. It was a “take one day at a time” type of approach. In the early days after diagnosis, I tried to focus on the positives of the day and be in the present. After my surgery that removed my cancer, I started to live life to its fullest. I took on the attitude of “seize the day.” I wanted to make sure that my family and I were taking advantage of every possible moment. We made sure that we took family trips and cherished the time we spent together.
From the very beginning of diagnosis, I started to blog my journey. The blog was a way to record what was happening as well as inform family and friends of my situation. I want to share a few stories that I blogged about. I have since forgotten about these stories, but my lovely daughters who have read through my blog have reminded me of them.
Story #1 From May 6, 2012
A few weeks ago I had to take a bone density test. The medicine that I take lowers my bone density 3-5% each year. A few days prior I called to schedule this test. This is how the conversation went.
Me” hi, I need to schedule a bone density test.”
Very kind lady: “referring doctor”
Me: “Dr. so and so”
Very kind lady: “so this is in reference to?”
Me: “breast cancer”
Very Kind lady: “Ok, so have you had chemo yet?”
Me: “I have had chemo, bilateral mastectomy and radiation”
Very Kind Lady: “Are you still menstruating?”
Me: “I had my ovaries removed two weeks ago.”
Very Kind lady: “hmmmmm…..well”
Me: “I know, I am 33 and I am a mess.”
Very Kind Lady, “Oh hon, you are not a mess you are alive and that is all that matters”
I sat at my desk during my lunch time and almost started to cry. This woman was absolutely right, I am alive and that is all that matters.
I still try to live by this woman’s words of wisdom.
Story #2 from October 21, 2012
A few months ago, my dear friend Adele asked me if I wanted to walk with her in NY City to help raise money for cancer research. I wanted to but wasn’t sure how well I would do. Time passed by and Adele continued to send me emails and asking me to sign up with her. Of course it was during the last week of pre-sign-ups and I signed up and got myself ready for the walk. Totally didn’t read all of what I was signing up for. I signed up for a five mile walk in Central Park. What a beautiful day it turned out to be. Not a snowflake in the sky. There were tons and tons of people there. Most of the people were not survivors but just ordinary people who were walking to raise money to help find a cure for cancer. I was sort of a celebrity since I was a survivor. I went to the front of the line for the start of the walk. They usually have the survivors go to the front. There was a father standing there with two girls who were about Ruthie and Elisheva’s age. He said to them “girls, you know how I said we would see a survivor, she is a survivor.” After hearing this, I turned to the girls and said, “Yes, I am a survivor and I have girls your age. Thank you for walking.” Then as we walked, there were people constantly saying “we have a survivor here” and then lots of cheering. It was totally spirit lifting and motivating. So let’s not forget where I was in 2012 and let’s not forget all of the steps it took to get to where I am today in 2026.
Story #3 from October 6, 2012
Here is a little story….once upon a time, in 2012 I had to go to my bimonthly oncology appointment. During these appointments I get blood drawn to make sure all my levels are ok. Let’s just say Shua was not happy watching this event. I didn’t turn him around so he couldn’t see me because then he would freak out. Well, letting him watch was a mistake. He went nuts. I got my flu shot during this appointment as well. I learned from my mistake and made sure Shua was not watching this event. I parked his stroller in front of the fish tank. Shua is a smart boy and knew something was up. He kept trying to turn around to see what I was doing. I made sure he faced forward by being rather silly and trying to distract him with the fish. The place was pretty empty (which is good to see that there were not a lot of people being treated with chemo that day) so I felt ok being somewhat loud and ridiculous in order to keep Shua content. There was a man in his 50’s getting chemo. I could see the man watching me and laughing a little. I got the flu shot and Shua had no clue! Success! As I started to leave the room, the nurse grabbed the back of my hair and said “wow, it is coming in so nice, I love it!” At this point I was standing right next to the man getting chemo. Shua started to say “hi” to him, so we stopped for a quick chat. Shua started to say “bye-bye” to the man. That was my cue to get moving before he freaks out again. As I walk down the hallway I hear the man start talking to the nurse. “Wow, she did all this with a baby?” The nurse said “yes, and she has more children too.” The man then said “wow, if she could do it, how can I complain?” Sometimes seeing someone else’s life experiences helps put things in perspective. As I continued out of the office, I had that superwoman feeling for a moment. It was a great feeling!
Although there were many hard moments fighting cancer and raising three small children-and I mean MANY, I am thankful to have such amazing children who supported me through my journey and am so proud of how far they have come.
It was definitely a journey from the start of diagnosis to this very day. I have walked and ran many miles and raised thousands of dollars for cancer research. From barely being able to walk a half mile to running a half marathon, each step taken with thankfulness and appreciation for beating cancer. At times, there were days that I would take one step forward and then by night time, I had taken four steps backwards. I had to maintain my faith in God to be able to continue to move on a forward path. Every time I would go to my oncologist's office for my check up, I would walk the three flights of stairs. I easily could have taken the elevator. However, I needed myself to know that I was able to walk the stairs. At the top of each flight they had inspirational quotes on the walls. One of the quotes was “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass….It is about learning to dance in the rain.” I saw this quote each time I made it to the third floor. It has always helped keep everything in perspective for me. So the next time it storms, just remember to dance in the rain and remember you are a link in this Sharsheret.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my journey and helping to support other women going through similar journeys.
In early June, I had the opportunity to watch Shua win the JV indoor soccer championship. It was awesome to watch his season. I didn't get hit on the head once with the ball- I count that as a win!
Let's not forget the best part of June- I spent the day wearing a light up crown and blowing bubbles. There is just something about bubbles that makes everyone happy.
Also in June, I finished all of my letters to my students. Yes, I am still doing this activity. It takes a lot of time but I feel that it is worth the time. I gave out more crocheted prizes this year than last.
