I am an educator.
I am NOT your typical educator though.
I have come to this profession through a twisted and convoluted path and I think I am a better educator for it. I have taught Preschool. I have home schooled. I taught elementary school at a charter school for years. I was nominated and chosen as the Charter School Teacher of the Year in 2009. I began teaching Jr. High in 2010. I began teaching at a Public School in 2011. I began writing curriculum and coaching other English teachers in 2012.
I am an educator.
I have seen a lot.
Some good.
Some great.
Some terribly, terribly bad.
Some charter schools are great (don't hate me my Public School friends, it's the truth)...
Some charter schools are terrible (don't hate me my Charter School friends, it's the truth)...
Guess what? That's true of Public Schools too...and probably private schools, although that is a realm I have not yet been sent on a quest to enter.
Do you know what all of these things have in common? They exist to serve children! Some of them are very tall, almost adult children, but children, nonetheless.
Do you know what all of these things also have in common? Somewhere along the way adults got involved, and they got greedy, and they forgot what it was like to be a child. They don't see the joy, the pain, the wonder, the fear, the amazement, curiosity, imagination or the hunger, chaos, and helplessness.
They began to look at children as a number.
The dollar amount they receive for having kids in a seat so let's cram in as many as we can.
The data they receive from a test that can be scored with bubbles and machines because, God forbid, humans might actually see the child as a person.
The score on a standardized test that measures the child against all of the children in the state and nation despite the fact that one might live in a city, one might live in the country, one might live in abject poverty, and one in insane prosperity, one who is read to every night, or one who eats dinner alone.
Numbers.
It is time to take a step back and realize children are not just a number. It's time to consider that one of the best things I can do to nurture my child is to love my neighbor's child as well. It's time to allow teachers to teach HUMAN CHILDREN, and not just crunch numbers to push children like they were dots on a number line. It's time to embrace ART, and MUSIC, and DANCE, and PLAY!! It's time to READ and LISTEN and CREATE!!
Please fight for our children. We need the government to not just adequately fund ALL schools so that children can learn but to SUPPORT the professionals who spend 7 hours a day with those children. Instead of tying the teacher's hands in the labyrinth of data and testing and overfilled classrooms, set them FREE to nurture, encourage, and grow the leaders of tomorrow.
Imagine with me for a moment. There is a teacher somewhere who makes a salary that qualifies her for food stamps who will bring granola bars to feed her students breakfast, supplies to create their latest project, maybe even shoes or a warm jacket for the student who doesn't have either.
Imagine. What could that teacher do if she made a salary that allowed her to have enough.
Stop and think about that one more time. Teachers give. Teachers do. Teachers sacrifice. The characteristics that make up teachers aren't going to change if you pay them a living wage. But when I imagine the scenario of teachers being paid more, I imagine fewer children going hungry, more children having shoes, and projects to rock your socks off just because the teacher CAN.
Think about that for a minute.
I am an educator. I am a parent. I care about kids. Do you?
Click here to find out how to contact your Arizona representative to support fully funded education for ALL students.
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