What a horror show. I was reminded a couple years ago on my first day at St. Ignatius to teach poetry and my first class was having an active shooter drill, the first time I'd experienced one. It was awful. This also happened to be in the midst of a COVID surge and masks weren't required, and this was a class where pretty much every student had a story of a family member – often more than one – who had already died of the illness. I was rattled. It also occurred to me that the same people who refuse to have any conversations about any kind of gun measures to curb the first problem are the same people who were so adamantly opposed to mask protocols, which exacerbated the second problem. They are also the same people who want to do away with public schools at all despite never having been near one for about thirty years.
Yes, it's all related. Also witness the during-COVID "We love teachers!" narrative shouted from rooftops when parents had to experience some version of "teaching" from home, to the violent careen back to distrusting teachers, accusing them of indoctrinating students, and pushing for an end to public education as we know it. Same people.
1. I can't believe anyone could say that to YOU! That would have been my last year, too. It would have crushed my soul, as it did yours (because you are so not that teacher).
2. The double-taped text book. Yeah, that will work. Did they give you a kevlar textbook cover, just in case?
3. Was that an actual cake you received at school or from one of my favorite book, Cake Wrecks?
4. "Is combating violence in the workplace/ Enduring extended, broad-based trauma/being bludgeoned by parents (and sometimes administrators) teaching? No, but it’s part of education." Yup, just add that to the list.
I thought it was only me who felt this way about Teacher Appreciation Week. I thought I was being selfish or stupidly resentful. It wasn't that I didn't like the gifts (when they remembered to do something) it just kind of seemed like a last minute thought. And yes, I would have appreciated a raise, or materials, or even a thoughtful letter more.
I too, love getting your newsletters. Sometimes they make me laugh out loud and sometimes they give me teacher nightmares, but they always make me think.
I'm glad to find kindred spirits when it comes to this stuff! And that cake is a legitimately misspelled Teacher Appreciation Week cake that I ordered from Albertson's one year and it is one of my favorite things ever. (My National Honor Society did a WHOLE THING every year for TAW. Gift bags. Cake. A hot breakfast. Something elaborate and different every day of the week. I never told them how I really felt about it.)
I love your newsletter. I hang on every word you write! It should be unbelievable that a parent said that to you. I left teaching last year, and the ‘bludgeoning’ is one reason why. The other is that I love teaching but didn’t do enough of it compared with all the other aspects of “education.” I kept waiting for my enthusiasm to come back but all I feel now is disillusioned, and I know I won’t return. 🤍
Thank you for reading, and I’m sorry you had some of the same kind of experiences, it sounds. I think school leadership has to change dramatically to attract and retain teachers, given the way it’s going.
Every year I wish I could just hand out checks and bottles of champagne to the teachers. It does feel like salt in the wound to give coffee gift cards or mugs or flowers. 💔💔 my dad was asked to teach a STEM course (he is a math teacher) 3 days before the start of school because administrators had offered the class to incoming students so it was already on their schedules...and then proceeded to tell him he needed to CREATE the curriculum from scratch because there was no textbook. This was in a private xtian school so this is just the tip of the iceberg of my rage. The “parts” of education that we expect of teachers these days is just incomprehensible.
What a horror show. I was reminded a couple years ago on my first day at St. Ignatius to teach poetry and my first class was having an active shooter drill, the first time I'd experienced one. It was awful. This also happened to be in the midst of a COVID surge and masks weren't required, and this was a class where pretty much every student had a story of a family member – often more than one – who had already died of the illness. I was rattled. It also occurred to me that the same people who refuse to have any conversations about any kind of gun measures to curb the first problem are the same people who were so adamantly opposed to mask protocols, which exacerbated the second problem. They are also the same people who want to do away with public schools at all despite never having been near one for about thirty years.
Yes, it's all related. Also witness the during-COVID "We love teachers!" narrative shouted from rooftops when parents had to experience some version of "teaching" from home, to the violent careen back to distrusting teachers, accusing them of indoctrinating students, and pushing for an end to public education as we know it. Same people.
Heartbreaking.
Wow, on so many levels.
1. I can't believe anyone could say that to YOU! That would have been my last year, too. It would have crushed my soul, as it did yours (because you are so not that teacher).
2. The double-taped text book. Yeah, that will work. Did they give you a kevlar textbook cover, just in case?
3. Was that an actual cake you received at school or from one of my favorite book, Cake Wrecks?
4. "Is combating violence in the workplace/ Enduring extended, broad-based trauma/being bludgeoned by parents (and sometimes administrators) teaching? No, but it’s part of education." Yup, just add that to the list.
I thought it was only me who felt this way about Teacher Appreciation Week. I thought I was being selfish or stupidly resentful. It wasn't that I didn't like the gifts (when they remembered to do something) it just kind of seemed like a last minute thought. And yes, I would have appreciated a raise, or materials, or even a thoughtful letter more.
I too, love getting your newsletters. Sometimes they make me laugh out loud and sometimes they give me teacher nightmares, but they always make me think.
Thanks!
I'm glad to find kindred spirits when it comes to this stuff! And that cake is a legitimately misspelled Teacher Appreciation Week cake that I ordered from Albertson's one year and it is one of my favorite things ever. (My National Honor Society did a WHOLE THING every year for TAW. Gift bags. Cake. A hot breakfast. Something elaborate and different every day of the week. I never told them how I really felt about it.)
"No, but it’s part of education." That kind of says it all. You're absolutely right.
I love your newsletter. I hang on every word you write! It should be unbelievable that a parent said that to you. I left teaching last year, and the ‘bludgeoning’ is one reason why. The other is that I love teaching but didn’t do enough of it compared with all the other aspects of “education.” I kept waiting for my enthusiasm to come back but all I feel now is disillusioned, and I know I won’t return. 🤍
Thank you for reading, and I’m sorry you had some of the same kind of experiences, it sounds. I think school leadership has to change dramatically to attract and retain teachers, given the way it’s going.
We need to do better.
Indeed.
Every year I wish I could just hand out checks and bottles of champagne to the teachers. It does feel like salt in the wound to give coffee gift cards or mugs or flowers. 💔💔 my dad was asked to teach a STEM course (he is a math teacher) 3 days before the start of school because administrators had offered the class to incoming students so it was already on their schedules...and then proceeded to tell him he needed to CREATE the curriculum from scratch because there was no textbook. This was in a private xtian school so this is just the tip of the iceberg of my rage. The “parts” of education that we expect of teachers these days is just incomprehensible.