Most of you know I am a teacher. Not only is it one of my spiritual gifts, but it is the way I used to earn a living. I am thankful that God is allowing me this time to be a stay a home mom, but eventually I know I will go back to the classroom simply because I enjoy it.
This morning when I woke up I turned on the news immediately to catch the latest on all this snow we are getting in the
Disgusted! That is what I was after listing to the story about the group firing of the teachers in RI. I mean come on. Then to top it off- our PRESIDENT supported this decision. WHAT??????
**************WARNING***************
If you like our President or agree with the decision in RI, just don’t read anymore.
Point 1:
Teaching is HARD; especially when you are teaching in a community of low socioeconomic status families. From what I have read these teachers were facing this challenge. In my opinion this is the hardest condition to teach under because your job then becomes educating a community not just students. This leads me to my next point.
Point 2:
IT IS NOT THE JOB OF THE CLASSROOM TEACHER TO RAISE THE COUNTRIES CHILDREN!!! When are we as a country going to place the responsibility of raising and teaching our children back on- THE PARENTS? It is the responsibility of parents to provide an environment for children where education is valued. Believe it or not, but this requires NO MONEY! I don’t care how poor or rich parents are they can provide this example. If you as a parent are not going to be active in the education of your children or for that matter active in your child’s life- DON’T HAVE CHILDREN!
Point 3:
Since our country does not believe that the responsibility our childrens' education is the parents, then they need to SUPPORT teachers. Support them: provide them with what they need, pay them accordingly, provide education for parents and the community. SHAME on you- Obama. Teachers work hard, often over looking their own families to support and help children who are already in the viscous cycle of poverty.
My experience teaching in a low socioeconomic community left me detached from my family. I vaguely remember the first year of my twins’ life because I was so consumed with the success of my classroom. I had anywhere from 18 to 15 kids that year (because these families constantly move back and forth); 8 of whom had learning disabilities and or significant delays. Since I taught kindergarten it was my job to line up the testing, schedule and make observations, meet with parents, do the paper work, prove I had tried interventions, provide work samples, etc…, oh yeah and teach ALL the students in my classroom. On top of my classroom duties I had to coach cheerleading at the middle school because- “they needed me”. (By the way, my coaching supplement for the entire year which included 2 seasons was $800.00. Not even enough to cover my gas to drive to the school for Saturday games.) My life was consumed by these children and their success, all the while my own children’s success was left to the hands of someone else. After, much assessment of my life my husband and I decided it was my responsibility to be with my children right now. I am continually thankful for the opportunity to be a SAHM because I know there are not very many families that can afford to do this these days.
Many people think that all teachers do is teach children how to read, do arithmetic, basic science, and history. WRONG! They teach these skills in order to use the information to do their real job. The job of a teacher is to teach a child how to think, how to organize their thoughts, how to make inferences, how to draw conclusions, how to compare and contrast, etc… This is a hard task- Obama would you like to try? Oh wait! The stress of it might make you relapse on your cigarette addition.
If you are a parent make education important to you- it will become important to your child. Love and support your teachers- they work hard and often spend more time with your child than they do with their own children.
Thanks for reading my soap box post! :)
3 comments:
Amen, sister! Preach it! I totally agree with you. It is a soapbox issue with me too, and one that is particularly near and dear to my heart b/c so many parents around me do not send their children to our local school. I feel responsible to be in our school, supporting and doing whatever I can to make our school better, not run from it and try to find a better one. Anyway, many people might not agree with me (or you), but we've been there, done that, got the t-shirt, the whole nine yards. We'll have to chat about it someday instead of me writing a novel in your comment section! ;)
Thanks for your post, Kristin. I for one am extremely thankful for our teachers and I admire those that are able to stay at home with their own children. I agree that way too much is expected of them. As far as RI goes.... this is what happens when God is removed from our schools and government. It makes me sad.
Craziness! Seriously, I am in COMPLETE agreement with you! Being a high school teacher, you would think that at that level it would be mostly about education, teaching the subjects. However, it was quite the opposite, I was a full time parent to SO many of my students. I was a guidance counselor, a friend, a disciplinarian, a mentor, and lastly and finally a teacher, when I could fit in the time between paperwork for interventions, STT meetings, etc. But, I love my students and was willing to do that for them, however, I completely agree with your statement that the country needs to support our teachers while they are doing this! Oh, goodness, I am rambling and getting worked up, I'll stop now. ;)
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