The Greatest Speech Ever Made

Sometimes when I'm feeling down and like the world sucks entirely too much, I watch this video. It never fails to give me a little hope.

On Being a Teacher...and Gratitude for Those Who Do It.

Although I’m no longer a public school teacher, in many ways, I still think like one, and in my heart, I still feel like one. All of the negative attention given lately to teachers hits home for me, so I want to take a little bit of time to explain what it’s like to be a teacher and to do the job day in and day out. These are some of the experiences I encountered and some of the thoughts I had when I taught public schools.

First of all, teaching is without a doubt one of the greatest careers in the world. I'm sure you've heard that before.

However, it's only great if you like kids, and even then, only if you have infinite positivity and patience. Sometimes kids can drive you nuts and make you wonder, "Was I ever like that??? No. Nooo way."

But then you probably were like that too...in some ways. Like when you skipped school once, or twice, or more. Or ran away from home once, or twice, or more.

And in other ways, you were very different.

You didn't have to deal with the heat being turned off in the middle of winter because your parents couldn't pay the bills, and you were so cold and near freezing in your bed that you didn’t get any sleep. That's why you couldn't concentrate on the state test and failed it the next day in school.

You never felt like you had to bring a knife to school because some kid kept bullying you.

And when you were little, your mom or dad never:  died, divorced, brought in a friend who raped you, spent time in prison, killed your other parent in front of you, gave you up or left you forever at someone's house. You never went through any of those things that some of your students have. Many of your students have.

And then you realize just how much past experiences affect a person and why he or she behaves that way. It makes sense.

Sometimes parents think you should parent their kids for them.

Sometimes you call 20 parents and only get 3 calls back. And when you try calling again, they finally pick up but they're drunk as hell.

Sometimes after you call and talk to them, you find out the next day that they beat their kid up because you called about a tardiness problem.

Sometimes principals forget what it's really like to be in the classroom everyday. With the kids everyday.

They forget the hard work and time involved in teaching. They expect you to take on more duties and responsibilities. Or they give you the crappiest teaching schedule ever. Or say and do things that imply you're not a professional.

Sometimes it's other teachers whose negativity starts to rub off on you. Whining and complaining really drains your energy and your outlook on things.

Sometimes people who don't know anything about teaching think that it's the easiest job.

And that you're overpaid.

Sometimes they think they own you because your salary is paid for with their tax money. They think they have a right to tell you what to do in the classroom and how to do it, even though you’re the one with the multiple education degrees and years of teaching experience.

Even lawmakers think they know more about education than you do.

But none of those people know what it’s like to stand up in front of a class of 30 kids and have to tell them that one of their peers committed suicide last night.

None of those people who criticize you know what it’s like to put on a strong face and comfort those crying kids, when inside all you want to do is to burst into tears yourself. When inside, you’re consumed with questions of what else you could have done to save that kid.

Other times, it’s cancer or a car accident that has taken the life of a student and you have to break the news to the class.

Or you have to explain about the planes hitting the World Trade Center and you have to calm your students’ fears. Or tell them who Osama Bin Laden is. And what about that Saddam Hussein guy?

You calmly answer their questions. And then ever so gracefully, you transition to the lesson you had planned for the day. You try to get the students’ minds away from the worries of the world.

A part of you just really wishes you could shield them from the world’s evils altogether.

Sometimes people are insanely jealous over the notion that you get summers off.

But they don't realize that most teachers are either: (a) working a summer job to make ends meet, and yes, some of that money will go towards buying classroom supplies, (b) taking graduate classes at their own expense to improve their knowledge and teaching skills and to keep their teaching license, (c) attending workshops/meetings for new curriculums and programs, (d) preparing for the next school year, (e) working with others to analyze data and figure out how to best help all kids, or (f) all of the above and more.

But all in all, teaching is truly one of the greatest jobs in the world. And I really do mean that, despite all the stuff mentioned above.

Especially when that one kid finally got the answer right, but most importantly she can explain why or how it’s the right answer. And another one told you that you're his favorite teacher, and he wasn't just sucking up to you. That other kid from 6 years back who's no longer a kid still emails you once in awhile. And then sometimes you get a hug or a nice letter from a student. Or you get nominated for a teaching award.

Sometimes, the best feeling is to just know your students get to walk off that stage with a diploma in their hands, even if they forget to thank you for helping them.

Yes, it's fair to say I had a sort of love/hate relationship with my job when I was teaching public schools. A few times, I was on the brink of teacher burnout.

But no matter what, I always felt I was blessedly stuck, if that makes any sense.

Because no matter what, I knew with a clear certainty that there was no other job in the world more worthy. And that was something I always had at the end of the day. Most other people in my life could not say the same about their jobs.

I miss being back in the high school classroom. I teach in the private sector now for online colleges, which is more convenient and easier on my family.

I also now work half the hours that I used to as a public school teacher, and I still make the same amount of pay. That tells you just how underpaid public school teachers really are for the amount of work they do.

I would like teachers to know this: In the face of all the recent negativity towards teachers, hold your head up high. You impact the future generations, and therefore you are at the core of how we are going to change this world around.

I am amazed everyday at what you continue to do. Thank you.

Two Year Old Girl from China, Yue Yue

Outrage. Sorrow. Appall. Sickening. There are so many words to describe the reactions to China's hit-and-run girl, the two-year-old named Yue Yue who was left for dead after being run over twice by separate drivers and then ignored in the middle of the road by 18 passersby.

Yue Yue attended to by hospital staff

I feel all of those emotions, but to be honest, I'm also very confused. I don't know what to make of it. I can't wrap my brain around why it happened--why so many people saw her injured body and just walked away. I can't understand it no matter how hard I've tried, and it's really, very bothersome.

You see, I'm the type of person who needs some sort of logical, scientific explanation...such as "The human body, when confronted with a situation such as this, will naturally do this or that as proven by several studies done by so-and-so." But you know what? None of that would even come close to explaining the apparent apathy of the passersby or the drivers of those two vehicles. Because for once, a scientific explanation just doesn't work (I never thought I'd say that). Simply put, it is just an excuse.

I have been reading news stories to see what the passersby and the drivers have to say for themselves, and all of their explanations are again just excuses. Bullshit. And then I've been reading about the world's reaction and China's reaction, and again, more excuses and bullshit.

The little girl died yesterday (Friday, Oct. 21). Some people are saying she died to teach the world a lesson. But about what? That we're cruel and that the world we live in is evil? That we need to change? All of this we knew already. Furthermore, so many of the reactions to this story are negative ones that I'm not sure what kind of lessons we are learning. It's instead bringing out racism, hate, fear, anger...all the negative things. We are so quick to make sweeping conclusions. I don't think it's any one person's fault. 20 or more people could easily be blamed. An entire nation could be blamed. But mostly it's humanity that's failed. How sad.

I say that humanity has failed because regardless of nationality, race, religion, government, income level, etc., there is still right and wrong. There is a universal moral code, isn't there? At least I once believed in that but perhaps it's now been superseded by our environment. The old argument of nature vs. nurture. We have a natural disposition of responding to certain moral situations, don't we? Isn't that what makes us "human"? What has happened to our moral code?

There are so many explanations as to why nobody stopped to help Yue Yue. This article, We Are All Yue Yue, tries to explain. But in the end, all of these explanations do not suffice to me. Not one bit. And that is so perplexing.

Perhaps, however, we're asking the wrong question. Perhaps we should be asking: Will Yue Yue's death make a difference? I can't say for sure, but I am left with the feeling that I must go hug my kids close to me. Because I now have a reaffirmed love and gratitude for my children. And yes, also because I'm damn afraid of letting my kids go out into a world that evil. But they say that kids are the future, and clearly this problem with morality will not be solved quickly or easily, even if laws are enacted on behalf of Yue Yue. So I will start there, by holding my kids close, by loving them, teaching them the right things, and hoping that they will prove to be a better lot of adult humans than we currently are. One small step and a lot of hope for a changed future.

Why are protestors occupying Wall Street?

The question I repeatedly hear and read about is this: What do those protestors at Occupy Wall Street and other cities want???

A few resources that I think are worth viewing/reading:

Why #OccupyWallStreet? 4 Reasons

Occupy Together

We're Not Broke, Just Twisted

and the We are the 99 Percent blog as well as the Occupy Wall Street website.

It's not a Republicans vs. Democrats thing, or a conservative vs. liberals thing. It is just people trying to live and wanting a fair shot at life. That's all. But it's becoming increasingly difficult to do that. The economy is extremely skewed. Big corporations and the super-wealthy use their money to buy the favor of politicians and influence policies that are a huge disadvantage to the common person. I don't think enough Americans understand that this is the problem with our economy.

So why Occupy Wall Street? To draw attention to the real problem. That's a big step in the right direction for our country and it will start the process of looking for serious resolutions to these issues. Unlike big corporations, the common person doesn't have the power of money on his side. But with millions of others just like him--standing together--there is power in numbers. And that is something the big corporations will never have, no matter how many billions or trillions of dollars they hold.

Bad Time to be a Teacher

Wouldn't it suck if you got a pay cut that would have otherwise paid for your monthly electric bill, phone bill, internet bill, and water bill? And wouldn't it suck even more if your boss tells you that not only do you get a pay cut but you have to put in more time at work?

That's exactly my husband's situation as a public school teacher in Wisconsin. He recently got his first paycheck of the new school year, and that was when we realized exactly the extent of how Scott Walker's Act 10 will affect our family's finances. We will have to pay for those bills somehow and try to also save some money, if that's possible.

My husband already works three jobs. He teaches high school during the day, teaches on Saturdays at the technical college, and does home presentations selling knives on occasion. He is now thinking of being a referee in the evenings for volleyball leagues as a fourth job. As for me, I adjunct for three colleges and I'm constantly keeping an eye out for any new openings. I used to advise after school clubs and work at the local newspaper too, but with little kids at home, it became too hard to balance. Next year, when my youngest child is old enough to go to school part-time, perhaps I'll get another job to work during those few hours each day when she's at school or try to add a fourth college to teach for. We'll have to see how things go this year with our finances. It's stressful and we have to make every dollar stretch.

But what else are we supposed to do?

True, it's nothing new. My husband and I, as educators, are used to working multiple jobs. We're used to being underpaid (despite both of us having masters degrees) and having to always supplement our income with other jobs. We do it and have done so for the past 10 years. Why? Because we enjoy teaching. It's a fulfilling career, and personally, I don't know many people who can say that about their job.

But after seeing my husband's first paycheck of the school year, the first since the implementation of Scott Walker's budget bill, I'm beginning to wonder what other sacrifices we can possibly make.

What more can be taken from us? What more do we, as educators, have to give up in order to keep teaching and doing what we love? And of course, the underlying question...at what point do we give up being educators?

**sigh** Just had to complain for awhile there.

9/11

On 9/11/01, I was on my way to my morning college class and then I would be heading over to the nearby school to put in some teaching practicum hours. I turned the radio on in my car and some guy was talking about airplanes hitting buildings in New York, and I thought, "What the hell? This has gotta be fake." I flipped to another radio station only to find that ALL of them were reporting on the twin towers being hit. I walked into my classroom and it was dead silent. People were gazing off with the hollow, distant look of confusion, fear, and sadness. I remember my professor getting up in front and trying to start class, but within 15 minutes, it was clear our minds were elsewhere. He dismissed us and sent us home.

I still did not really grasp what the situation was, but I remember later that night, the full force hitting me as I watched the video clips of the planes hitting the towers, another one slamming into the pentagon, and one burning in that field in Pennsylvania.

I remember the goosebumps rising on my skin and crawling to the back of my neck as the video footage played over and over again on my television screen. Later in the darkness of my bedroom, it would play over and over again in my mind. Part of what hit me the hardest was that an attack was actually happening right here in America. But another part of me thought, "So this is what it feels like to be all those other countries."

Let's remember those in America who have been impacted by the attacks of 9/11. But let's also remember those all over the world for whom war and attacks are a regular part of life.

That good, ol' "back to school" feeling...

I miss it! I've been out of the physical classroom as a teacher for two years and I miss the feeling of back to school.

The excitement and anticipation of students coming back.

The burst of new ideas for lessons and activities.

The arranging and re-arranging of desks, tables, and chairs, and trying to make the most of classroom space.

The creation of bulletin boards.

Getting school supplies and books stored and ready for use.

Writing beginning-of-the-school-year letters to parents and students.

Seeing colleagues, catching up on what's new, and exchanging ideas.

There is just something about this time of year that I've always enjoyed as a teacher. It feels like the start of something new and great. Such an optimistic time of year full of energy, excitement, and sense of renewal.

Good luck to all of you who are going back to school--teachers, students, young and old!

GREAT Blog Post by a Teacher: I Ruined Everything

Brandi Martin, an art teacher in Illinois, wrote a blog post that's worth sharing and reading ten times over. It's called I Ruined Everything and is about the barrage of negative and often outright despicable comments aimed at teachers.

I live in Wisconsin, where the governor, Scott Walker, declared six months ago that teachers and other public workers are the enemies of society, that public workers are the reason for the state (and the nation) being in so much debt. Walker essentially encouraged others to believe in this notion as well, and ever since then, I have heard and read countless cruel and bitter comments aimed at public workers, especially teachers. It seems Walker made it suddenly okay to treat teachers and public workers with open disdain.

Last week, for example, I was in my backyard grilling and overheard my "nice" neighbor in his backyard talking to someone and completely ripping on teachers. He went on a rant for a long time about how teachers get the summers off, get paid so well, have such good benefits, get in-service days to "train" when they should really be with the students instead, and have the easiest job in the world--anybody could do it. Teachers are "assholes" and "leeches," according to my neighbor.

I have heard these types of negative comments so much in the last six months that it's at times disheartening and very sad. I give public school teachers who continually go into the classroom with a smile on their face all the credit in the world.

So to my neighbor and to all the other angry, resentful people out there who are blaming teachers for society's ills, I give you Brandi Martin's blog post entitled I Ruined Everything.

Read it. Because it's true.