This is in defense of my fellow teachers in light of yet another scandal surfacing. Most of us are not having inappropriate relations with our students. The following is a list of what we ARE doing: loving our students - even the rascals, letting them tell their stories that bird walk off the subject, filling out nurse passes - even when its probably hypochondria, biting our tongues during conferences, smiling when we feel like screaming, opening the door 55 times during the day since we now keep all doors locked, putting in book orders, buying treats with our own money for the treasure box, buying units off teacher pay teacher website, standing in line for the one copier/printer, cleaning desks, sinks, etc, eating lunch with our students as a reward, carrying on a conversation with the students about why we must have a lockdown drill with blinds closed and hiding in the corner, teaching first grade boys how to lift the lid and aim so the room doesnt smell like - you know, teaching the difference between tattling and reporting, teaching them to get along with each other, showing them how to use the headphones on one of only two computers in the room since its ports are not working on the front, filling out ADD forms for parents to take to doctors, reading to students, filling out lunch forms and attendance before reminder call comes in, teaching bullying lessons, checking out books from the library, buying books, sharpening pencils, laughing - lots of this, keeping up with data, grading papers, hitting the blank button on the smart board before showing an educational video just in case a 5 second Victorias Secret commercial comes on before the Skip button pops up, writing lesson plans, listening to an attorney tell us that we really dont have first amendment rights when it comes to facebook, collecting picture money - but NOT leaving it in our rooms, giving pats on the backs of our students, giving students SPACE to be themselves while still maintaining control, figuring out how much to push the kids without frustrating them, making little books from a-z reading for differentiated reading groups, separating scholastic news magazines, laughing - yes, this again, feeling MUCH stress, dragging home lots of work each weekend, working 50 hours plus each week, returning hugs given by sweet students, smiling and saying yes? Instead of screaming when our names are called for the twentieth time in 5 minutes, making charts, keeping up with discipline, filling in the contact log, rounding up supplies, replacing batteries in timers and remotes, missing our kids on the weekends, crying on the last day - knowing we may NEVER see some of these faces again, sending home a weekly newsletter, updating website - oops, better do that today, listening to show-and-tell, collaborating with fellow teachers in planning, looking at data, putting up chairs in the afternoon, putting them down in the mornings, signing into the computers, being with kids ALL day on picture days and when we dont have a lunch break - difficult days, surviving a full moon with little kids, making sure the doors stay locked so we can keep our kids safe, being willing to protect these kids at any cost if it ever comes to that, making cards for a sick sibling of one of our students, contemplating other careers but not wanting to leave the kiddos, practicing for PTA performances, picking up jackets off the floor, remembering transportation changes, and many other things. By the way, we also TEACH our hearts out, taking our jobs very seriously!!!!!! I dont know one lazy teacher in my school! Its a shame that our profession has gotten such bad coverage lately, but I know in my heart that most of us can be trusted to teach and love our students. Its why we do what we do.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 12:17:42 +0000
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