This is
my 18th year to be a teacher.
I’ve told many people that I am called to this profession just as ministers
are called to their professions. When I
think of other things I could do for a “job,” I can think of things that I can
do, but it’s not the same as BEING a teacher for me. But I’ve struggled as this year started.
Education in Oklahoma is
struggling. Unfortunately, our
Superintendent of Education has made decisions that have negatively affected
our system. I’m definitely not
political. It doesn’t matter what
political party she is associated with or which one I am. I am an educator, though, and I know that
changing cut scores after an assessment or dismissing a testing company with no
back-up plan in place are not wise decisions.
The lack of a good leader makes it difficult for teachers to do their
jobs because we feel like we’re aiming at a constantly moving target.
I am blessed to work in my school
district. Is it perfect? No. Is
any district? No. I’m hearing more and more about the “best”
districts having issues with teachers, parents, and students, and I realize
that the grass isn’t always greener. We
seem to be data driven right now, though.
With me being an English teacher, numbers aren’t really my thing. If I have to analyze one more set of numbers,
I may pull my hair out! I’d rather just
teach, please. J
The start to this year has been busier
than I think it ever has been. We have
more meetings to attend, more responsibilities in the classrooms, and it just
seems like there is less time to do the things I love: collaboration with other
English teachers and my team and actually developing the lessons I need to
teach my students.
So as the end of week four
approached, I was done. I was
tired. I was discouraged. I was counting the years until retirement.
Then Thursday happened.
My students were learning root
words. The activity was to make flash
cards with the root on the front. The
back would have the definition, two or three sample words, and an original
sentence. The students would generally
list more than two or three words, so I just added the examples on the
board. I asked for a couple of students
to share their sentence, and one student shared a sentence where he had used ALL
the sample words we had listed. It was
on! Many of the other students took that
as a challenge. They started listing
more words and then trying to incorporate as many as they could in their
sentence. I admit that some of the
sentences didn’t make as much sense as they should have, but the students were
taking ownership. Then I heard the words
that changed my day and maybe my year.
One student said, “Wow! We’re at
school, and we’re having fun! What
happened?” My co-teacher heard another
one say, “This is my favorite class!”
Those are words that will make a
teacher’s heart sing! They are the words
we live to hear and often don’t.
I’m not sharing this for any sort of
praise or compliments. I’m posting this
as an encouragement for myself and my fellow educators. When the meetings start to weigh heavy and
the data is staggering, remember why we do what we do. It’s for that one
student who gets the concept and challenges the rest of the students to own
their learning.
You know what? I think I just may make it to retirement
after all.
