Not feeling like a teacher

I'm friendly with my students. I like them and they like me. We get along just fine. They visit me during lunch and like to hang out in my room and chat. The other teachers don't think this is a good idea. They hang out in the teacher break room and chat about students, gossip and complain about how hard they work and how little they get paid. They do like their students and I'm sure most of them are better teachers than I am, simply because they've been doing it for much longer.

Many times I don't feel like I'm instructing as much as I could. I'm not an expert in my subject area and sometimes have the same curious questions as the students, and we look up answers together. I feel like a student myself, and I'm sometimes envious of the middle schoolers who are anxious learners. I wasn't one, and in hindsight realize how much I missed out on. The few shining stars in the 6th grade know something many adults still don't:

This is an amazing world full of incredible stuff that's waiting to be discovered. The world is less about iPods and the newest music site or the best way to layer clothing or what you look like at all. It's about how you treat people. Not the people who are just like you. It's about how you deal with situations that are uncomfortable and what you gain from those moments. Some of my 6th grade students already know this.