thoughts
I turned 8 two days before the Columbine shooting. In the 23 years since, one of the only things that's changed is how quickly the media has to shift focus to the next mass shooting. One of the other things that has changed is how teachers are treated. Politicians, parents, newscasters, and even people with no connection to education have opinions on how we should do our jobs. They don't trust us to choose and teach our own curriculum, despite that being what we have literally been trained to do. But despite their lack of faith in our intelligence and ability to perform the job for which we were hired, they have no problem asking us to sacrifice ourselves to save their children. In many cases, they even believe we should carry our own firearms in order to neutralize the threat in the event of yet another school shooting.
As I've said many times, being a teacher was never the career I wanted. I've tried to walk away from it, but somehow always end up back in the classroom. I'm fortunate to currently have a principal who supports me and the rest of her staff, and co-workers I get along with. But that wasn't always the case. And for many teachers, it still isn't the case. I didn't write this piece as a dig at my current district, but as an observation of today's teaching profession as a whole. When I write something that will be posted on here, I usually spend a lot of time on it. I'll often agonize over a single paragraph for hours, making sure every word is the exact one I meant to use. This time, I just wrote from the heart. Because while teaching isn't what I hope to do forever, as long as I'm here, I will fight to protect my fellow teachers. JOB LISTING FOR AN AMERICAN TEACHER Ideal Applicant Must Have:
Benefits: Making a difference in the life of a child.* *Only available if the difference is made in a way pre-approved by admin and veteran teachers who have “always done it this way.”
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Jacinta M. CarterProfessional Book Nerd Archives
March 2019
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