Last week, Andrea from the blog, Momfessionals, hosted her bi-monthly series, Show and Tell Tuesday. The prompt she gave was to share some scary stories. I normally link-up with her Show and Tell posts each month, but since I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween and scariness and that sort of thing, I thought I'd pass on this one.
But then, as I was reading through some of the posts that people linked up, one caught my eye. Erika, from the blog, A Little Bit of Everything, went a bit of a different route with her post. She wrote about what is scary to a mom...
So that got me thinking...
I'm obviously not a mom.
But I could write the post, discussing an area I do know.
So here ya go...
Do you want to know what is SCARY as a teacher?
We'll start on the lighter side...
It's SCARY when you realize that that cute 1st grader's happy dance while fingerpainting eventually turned into the pee pee dance. What's even SCARIER is that you only realized this when the puddle hits your bare foot - the one whose shoe you'd removed maybe just two seconds earlier.
It's SCARY when it's the first day of school and you have a class of 10 first graders and only you and one student speak English. Oh and did I mention that the other 9 students speak 9 different languages, none of which you know? Bring on the smiling and nodding :)
It's SCARY when a child yells out in the middle of class, "Diarrhea!" and starts running towards the door. And while you know you have to remind him that's probably not the most appropriate way to ask to go to the restroom, you also know it'd be far SCARIER to make him wait :)
And speaking of SCARY messes... It's SCARY when you hear that horrible sound of a child vomiting, only to watch, in what feels like slow-motion HORROR, as his vomiting starts a "chain reaction" and pretty soon multiple students are going at it.
It's SCARY when you plan a lesson, activity, assessment, EVERYTHING, using technology in some form and you have no backup plan. You double check everything an hour before while you're on break. Everything's fine. But then when you start the lesson, NONE of your technology works. The electricity goes out. The wifi isn't working. Your computer freezes up. Your iPad won't work. And so on and so forth. Now, that's SCARY.
It's SCARY when you can say (and translate) the following with ease... "I have meetings with the 504 team for a child labeled as OHI, the IEP team, the GRE team, and the RTI team today. I have to conduct 2 FBAs on children with severe ADHD and/or AUT before I can meet with the BCBA to get a BIP. The student needs to see the SLP, PT, and OT, not to mention time spent with GE and SPE. But figuring out how to make it all work and not having to change his LRE is quite a challenge."
And I must admit... It's SCARY when you can wake up at 5 a.m., do a little lesson planning or prep work before work, put in a full 7 or 8 hours at school, participate in an extra-curricular activity for a few hours after school, and then not get home 'til 6 p.m. and still put in an hour or so of work, all before crashing after dinner... It's SCARY that even with all of that, you still love what you do and you go back to it day after day.
And do you want to know what else is SCARY?
It's SCARY that there are students out there (in every state, in every country) who need help and are not receiving it.
It's SCARY that there are students without the support of a stellar education system.
It's SCARY that there are students who struggle with the decision of whether they should stay in school or drop out.
It's SCARY that there are students who don't have a good support system at home, so they only receive love and nurturing at school.
It's SCARY that there are students coming to school hungry, without adequate clothing and shoes, knowing the only hot meals they get are the ones at school.
It's SCARY that teachers are told over and over again to differentiate their lessons, activities, etc. Then when it comes time to take standardized tests, those same teachers are told to force every single child to take a "one-size-fits-all" test.
It's SCARY that in some school systems (thankfully, not where I teach), teachers' hands are tied and they know they must teach to a rigorous set of standards that can, by no means, truly assess the students they teach.
But do you want to know what SCARES me the most when it comes to teaching?
It SCARES me that there are students who need help, yet do not receive it. It SCARES me that these kids get labeled as "problem children," "behavior issues," and "kids who can't learn." It SCARES me that society accepts this. And it SCARES me that far too often, the teachers and principals over the education of these children sometimes sit by and let this happen. It SCARES me that the ones who have the ability and power to do so choose to not advocate for the students in their care. It SCARES me that sometimes educators grow almost complacent in their roles and turn a blind eye to cases like this.
Having worked in ESL, Special Education, and General Education, I've unfortunately seen this happen many many more times than I would care to admit.
But you know, overall, I'd truly have to say I've been blessed.
I've worked in 3 schools for multiple principals.
And honestly, 9 times out of 10, I haven't had to see those things I listed that SCARE me.
I saw (and see right now) teachers, principals, and other administrators truly working their absolute hardest to meet the needs of each and every one of their students.
I saw (and see right now) students thriving in school, all because there are teachers and administrators who love them and help them to succeed.
I saw (and see right now) education professionals putting their heads together, coming up with ways to better educate the students in their care.
And that makes me happy.
What a joy it is to know that we, as educators everywhere, are all working together for the good of our students.
Education is team work. It's teachers, administrators, students, and parents, all working together to accomplish the goal of every child succeeding in his or her own way.
We'll start on the lighter side...
It's SCARY when you realize that that cute 1st grader's happy dance while fingerpainting eventually turned into the pee pee dance. What's even SCARIER is that you only realized this when the puddle hits your bare foot - the one whose shoe you'd removed maybe just two seconds earlier.
It's SCARY when it's the first day of school and you have a class of 10 first graders and only you and one student speak English. Oh and did I mention that the other 9 students speak 9 different languages, none of which you know? Bring on the smiling and nodding :)
It's SCARY when a child yells out in the middle of class, "Diarrhea!" and starts running towards the door. And while you know you have to remind him that's probably not the most appropriate way to ask to go to the restroom, you also know it'd be far SCARIER to make him wait :)
And speaking of SCARY messes... It's SCARY when you hear that horrible sound of a child vomiting, only to watch, in what feels like slow-motion HORROR, as his vomiting starts a "chain reaction" and pretty soon multiple students are going at it.
It's SCARY when you plan a lesson, activity, assessment, EVERYTHING, using technology in some form and you have no backup plan. You double check everything an hour before while you're on break. Everything's fine. But then when you start the lesson, NONE of your technology works. The electricity goes out. The wifi isn't working. Your computer freezes up. Your iPad won't work. And so on and so forth. Now, that's SCARY.
It's SCARY when you can say (and translate) the following with ease... "I have meetings with the 504 team for a child labeled as OHI, the IEP team, the GRE team, and the RTI team today. I have to conduct 2 FBAs on children with severe ADHD and/or AUT before I can meet with the BCBA to get a BIP. The student needs to see the SLP, PT, and OT, not to mention time spent with GE and SPE. But figuring out how to make it all work and not having to change his LRE is quite a challenge."
And I must admit... It's SCARY when you can wake up at 5 a.m., do a little lesson planning or prep work before work, put in a full 7 or 8 hours at school, participate in an extra-curricular activity for a few hours after school, and then not get home 'til 6 p.m. and still put in an hour or so of work, all before crashing after dinner... It's SCARY that even with all of that, you still love what you do and you go back to it day after day.
And do you want to know what else is SCARY?
It's SCARY that there are students out there (in every state, in every country) who need help and are not receiving it.
It's SCARY that there are students without the support of a stellar education system.
It's SCARY that there are students who struggle with the decision of whether they should stay in school or drop out.
It's SCARY that there are students who don't have a good support system at home, so they only receive love and nurturing at school.
It's SCARY that there are students coming to school hungry, without adequate clothing and shoes, knowing the only hot meals they get are the ones at school.
It's SCARY that teachers are told over and over again to differentiate their lessons, activities, etc. Then when it comes time to take standardized tests, those same teachers are told to force every single child to take a "one-size-fits-all" test.
It's SCARY that in some school systems (thankfully, not where I teach), teachers' hands are tied and they know they must teach to a rigorous set of standards that can, by no means, truly assess the students they teach.
But do you want to know what SCARES me the most when it comes to teaching?
It SCARES me that there are students who need help, yet do not receive it. It SCARES me that these kids get labeled as "problem children," "behavior issues," and "kids who can't learn." It SCARES me that society accepts this. And it SCARES me that far too often, the teachers and principals over the education of these children sometimes sit by and let this happen. It SCARES me that the ones who have the ability and power to do so choose to not advocate for the students in their care. It SCARES me that sometimes educators grow almost complacent in their roles and turn a blind eye to cases like this.
Having worked in ESL, Special Education, and General Education, I've unfortunately seen this happen many many more times than I would care to admit.
But you know, overall, I'd truly have to say I've been blessed.
I've worked in 3 schools for multiple principals.
And honestly, 9 times out of 10, I haven't had to see those things I listed that SCARE me.
I saw (and see right now) teachers, principals, and other administrators truly working their absolute hardest to meet the needs of each and every one of their students.
I saw (and see right now) students thriving in school, all because there are teachers and administrators who love them and help them to succeed.
I saw (and see right now) education professionals putting their heads together, coming up with ways to better educate the students in their care.
And that makes me happy.
What a joy it is to know that we, as educators everywhere, are all working together for the good of our students.
Education is team work. It's teachers, administrators, students, and parents, all working together to accomplish the goal of every child succeeding in his or her own way.
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