I needed this quote today.
My position as an educator has placed me in situations that I would never voluntarily choose to be in. I have had to make difficult decisions that impact my students, their parents, and my colleagues. These decisions always spill into my private life and very few outsiders are witness to the huge impact these decisions have on myself, my family, and my personal well being.
What people don’t realize is that most teachers second guess their actions as a teacher ALL. THE. TIME. They dissect every word they spoke while “on the job” and often contemplate leaving the profession. When conflict arises between themselves, colleagues, parents, or students, most teachers I know beat themselves up over how the situation played out.
We care about our students. ALL OUR STUDENTS. We spend hours crying about them, worrying about them, wondering about them, and planning activities that we hope will spark their interest and love of learning. We rack our brains to find ways to reach every student on a personal level and we work hard at forming and maintaining relationships with each of them.
Where is the appreciation for all of that?
Unfortunately, we too often find ourselves in the position of defending our lesson plans, our teaching methods, our classroom management techniques, our expectations, and our personal values to people who haven’t spent any time in our classrooms or to administration that is under enormous pressure from school board officials and parents.
The most difficult aspect of our job is going against administration and parents in order to take a stand to do what we truly believe is right for ALL our students.
On a more personal note, this school year has taught me that the hardest decisions made are the best decisions for all children involved – even when it seems like the whole world is against you, against your values, against your teaching experience, and against your professional judgement as an educator.
I’m hear to tell you to take a stand. Make those difficult decisions. Do what you need to do to continue helping EVERY child. You have a classroom full of children and our educational system is not a 1 on 1 à la carte program where your administration, students and their families dictate how you should do your job.
Your impact may seem to fall on deaf ears in the short term, but any major change for the better begins with the courage to stand up for what you believe in and advocate for your rights as a teacher and the well being of EVERY CHILD.
Thank you, Mr. Rogers, for making me feel like a hero today.❤️❤️❤️
Have a great day!
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