Here’s the tea: Teacher edition
I , along with many fellow educators, that I talk to, thought that this school year was going to be the pivotal change in a positive direction that we needed since the pandemic changed everything (Especially education). The truth is, educators knew we needed change, long before the pandemic even happened. However, what a lot of people may not realize is that we (teachers) are seemingly powerless and voiceless. Myself, and many educators, who I’ve talked to, and are allowing me to be a voice for them, agree that we came into the education field with grandiose ideas of making a difference in creating an exceptional learning environment. We came into the education field to be life changers, and to make a lasting difference. We entered a field where we thought we could be ourselves, and Let that shine through every day within classrooms full of young people. Yet, here we are finding that we have been stripped of our power and voices.
What do I mean by that? We speak up, we write, we advocate for change, we continue to go to school to pour into our own education, we go to meetings…. Yet the changes we have advocated for are not here. If we read the media or blogs, or any social media post from the view of a lot of parents and outsiders, people who don’t work in the education field, we are beat down daily by negativity. People who think because we have a summer off, by the way it's an unpaid summer, we have some luxury. People who are accusing and blaming teachers for the problems in the education field. I’m not only a teacher in the classroom, but I run a tutoring business where I also mentor and coach educators, who tutor with me. I coach and develop new teachers. I work with leadership within my school. I advocate for students, parents, families, and educators alike. My lens on the field is wide. It is true that the majority, if not almost all, of educators and people in education that I have met are all feeling the same way. It is not our fault.
We signed up for not only educating, but ensuring the whole child’s needs are met. The majority of teachers that I have met love social and emotional learning. They went into the profession, understanding that classroom management is a must. They also understand that classroom management and behavior management were not necessarily taught in an education program in college. However, no teacher that I have met or talked to has entered the profession because they want to play therapist. On a daily basis classroom teachers have to choose between teaching 25 or more students versus pouring into one student (or more) that is having an existential meltdown on a daily basis. I’m not talking about the normal classroom management and behaviors that you may see that go awry. Our classrooms are faced with behavior that is out of our scope of practice on a daily basis, and almost all teachers that I have met and talked with, do not receive the proper support that those children need during those times. Schools have counselors and social workers on hand that are more equipped to deal with these types of matters. However, teachers are finding themselves, playing all of these roles, while still having to teach a curriculum with Fidelity, being observed, and critiqued on their ability to juggle all of these tasks, and left with no time to plan during their paid hours, so they are working tirelessly outside of work. You must understand, this is not saying teachers do not want to manage behavior or create systems and procedures that help the classroom. This is saying, teachers are being asked to do things for students, things that students require and should have in place in a school system, that they are not equipped to deal with. Teachers are being asked to wear multiple hats, and they are not specialized in the majority of the hats they are asked to wear.
How do we make change? Where do we begin? We have to rally together instead of against one another. Parents, caregivers, educators, administrators we all need to get together and tell these education systems that we are tired of the way things are going. We need to tell them that we are tired of the finger-pointing, the name-calling, and the blame game. We are tired of functioning in a system that was designed decades ago and is not suitable for 2023 learning.
Will it be effective? I have no idea, but we can’t stand the chance of not attempting to see if it works. While waiting and continuing to function within the school system, the way it is, our children, our future is looking grim. There’s no time to wait. There’s no more second guessing. It is time to come together and tell everyone that we are fed up. Everyone seems to be walking around with blinders on, not paying attention to what is going on with the next person. Parents blaming teachers. Teachers blaming administration. However, at the end of the day it has been rare to see these groups coming together to talk about the overall school systems and media‘s role in all of this.
I have heard the suggestion for many years, and couldn’t agree more, that we need trades brought into our schools. We need life lessons and learning that makes sense for daily living that focus on taxes and running businesses. We need healthcare classes that focus on the trends in health today. We need classes that teach sustainability and how to take care of our earth. We need classes that promote not just reading but reading things that will help make a difference in the long run. We need to stop being afraid of not checking off all of these tick boxes given to us by curriculums and leaders, and understand that we are working with humans. Every human is different, every human learns differently.
It is inevitably time for change. Time to understand the complexities involved in education. Time to rally together to promote change.
This was the tea: teacher edition.
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