September will come again, it does every year. I see you and I watch, the mental checklists never stop. The radar goes up and everything is scanned for needs. Not just today, everyday. The never ending work begins, it doesn’t end, it rotates. Somedays the observers are loud, they know how to do everything better, fifteen things positive, but grabs the one negative and spreads it out like chewing gum, sticking to everything. Your skin is thick right? You have superpowers! Your are brilliant and are so lucky to have a job with all the perks, Christmas break, March, break, summers off! Right? Classes are huge and every single life in that room is impacted by you, they will move on and won’t remember. Then six or so years later a friend of a child you know, talks of a child that drops out..teachers don’t care… well one did, they say. You know who it is, you remember!
You pour out servings of love everyday, hoping everyone gets their fair share. Some days it is tough love, guidance and one on one, then we take off the training wheels and whisper ..”pedal. ” Sometimes it is uphill both ways. Sometimes when you stay beyond your latest day and go home with no more to draw upon, you still dream of them and ways to encourage their strengths while taking all of yours. All those days off, what do you do? Well folks they prep and plan and research how best to help, interventions and approaches. I had a chat with a young teacher prepping for a project they wanted to take on after the break, there was two more days of break and they still had to buy the supplies, with their own money..that basically is mediocre after student loan. Why? For the kids of course, something fun after report cards and a week of unscheduled time, to bring them back to learning.
Our school years are compromised so often, things out of our control. Needs can arise in an instant. The adults are pulled in different directions all day long. An intervention is cancelled, an employee is sick, a child’s home has changed, a new student has started in the class, or one has left. Kids feel things deeply! As the EA I always come bearing tissues, they have lives outside of school too. I had a little one break into tears during a writing project. I brought my tissue box and we went for a walk. The writing prompt was about dogs, and this dear little soul’s pup had been hit by a car on the weekend! We cried together, that happens, they need to be heard, we are human. Teachers are human, they need to be heard, they have lives outside of school too. Your child is part of that life, we have them roughly forty weeks, a lot gets done in that time. Ask a mother how much can get done in forty weeks.
Momma Wouldn't Say 