Teachers...

Husband, who has been working to get his education degree and teaching certificate, treated me this morning to a(nother) lecture about teaching: his coursework, his teaching observations, his plans for when HE gets a classroom. Much of his comments, which I have been hearing for the last three years, include criticisms of the teachers he has observed during his time in class. None of them have been master teachers, in his humble opinion...and I have to acknowledge that he has had some doozies---the man who answered his cell phone during class multiple times, the woman with excellent classroom management but no love of teaching ("just doing a job" was his reflection), the girl who had no consistency with her students and rules.

You notice, I did not give any of those individuals the title of "teacher."

I have been in the business of education for 16 years now. I have been a pre-school teacher, a kindergarten aide, a high school drama teacher, and for the last 10 years, a middle school history teacher--with a couple other subject areas thrown in. I have seen students grow up and change and develop and become. Lots of students. So I listen to Husband and think about what my friend Jess (also a teacher) said, "Awww, he just has no idea yet, does he?"

There is a lot of pessimism about public education in this country lately. In Texas, our legislature has been in special session for weeks now to try and hammer out some kind of budget for our school system. As this process has gone on, more and more cuts have been made that directly affect the classroom: there is no money for new textbooks to reinforce the changes in standards they have made, class sizes are being increased, salary cuts and furlough days have been implemented, and classroom teachers have borne the brunt of the backlash from politicians when they have protested these cuts. My own district has stopped hiring teachers and had to displace numerous people in order to refrain from laying off teachers---which, thanks to careful planning, they have been able to do.

During the school year, many of my colleagues have parents who complain about their child's grades, teacher phone calls home about behavior and grades, having to come in for a parent conference...almost always with the attitude, "My child does not fail, lie, cheat, disrespect adults, make mistakes..." It must be the teacher's fault.

Here is a secret that bears coming to light, something that does not make the news cycle or online articles, about teachers:

We care. We love our students. We want them to succeed.

I have had numerous students in my 16 years in education, and I have met countless teachers and educators during that time as well. Not once have I met a teacher---even one "just doing the job"---who walks into a classroom in the morning, claps hands together gleefully, and says, "Let's see how many of these kids I can mess up today!"

We love them. We want them to succeed.

I have already spent much of my time this summer planning for next year, some by myself, some with my grade level team. I have a couple challenging students to adapt curriculum for this next year, and I am trying to make sure the lessons I will present will adapt to their levels and needs. Lessons from last year are being changed and tweaked to be better, to encourage even more critical thinking and love of history---not the most exciting subject for many students. We are working on a kinesthetic lesson for the three colonial regions that involves switching classrooms based on geography and using hands-on experience to take notes, rather than lecture or reading---my classroom will host the middle colonies and we will be mining, using grains, exploring Pennsylvania and the founding by William Penn of the colony for Quakers. And this is one lesson, with hours of thought behind it.

During the school year, I make a point of knowing my students well enough that I can tell you about each of them. I know when they are having a bad day. I know when they have had relationship problems. I know when they just don't understand and need extra help. I know when they are tired, bored, frustrated, sick, upset. And I try and make my classroom a place where it is okay to enjoy learning. I spend hours out of school making phone calls, planning lessons, going to workshops and conferences to make me a better educator, meeting with my subject and grade level teams, helping with school activities, and trying to make school a good place to be. And I am not alone.

I do not claim to be the best of teachers; I have gotten tired, lost my temper, responded with sarcasm, mis-typed a grade, fallen back on worksheets. The point is, I try. I love. I care. I want my students to succeed. And almost all of the teachers I have ever been privileged to know try and love and care and want just as much as I do. We are not the enemy---we just want the best for our students.