Prepare and give validation for testing: SAT, ACT, AP, all state-mandates.Look at the testing schedule and, shit, we are in the lab today testing… again.“Master my understanding of adolescent brain development.
Train my students what do if someone invades our sense of security.
Vomit, thinking of the violent state of our schools.
Show compassion for a student experiencing puberty.
Pick up trash or forgotten material.Sanitize every nook and adolescent-infected cranny.
Provide another student with breakfast.
Embed a growth mindset into my curriculum.
Practice tae kwon do and finish getting my concealed carry permit.
Review those Common Core State Standards.
Comfort a student who cries about homework being used as toilet paper.
Decide what objectives, essential questions, and behavior goals to write on the board.
Prepare and give validation for testing: SAT, ACT, AP, all state-mandates.
Look at the testing schedule and, shit, we are in the lab today testing… again.
Go to a staff meeting, an IEP meeting, a collaboration, a time-wasting professional development.
Apply mindfulness and restorative justice in my classroom.
Unlock my gun, you know, just in case.
Console a student related to a break-up or cyberbullying.
Round up pencils and pens for those who show up empty-handed.
Check my eBay and online garage sales accounts.
See if anyone needs me to Uber them away from the school.
Make a profit from one of my side hustles to buy classroom supplies.
Advise this organization on campus and then tutor another.
Counsel a student who missed a streak on SnapChat.
Plan, not my summer vacation but the alignment of my units and standards.
Check my student loans… yep, still there.
Update grades and monitor attendance.
Read a YA book so I can connect and have empathy.
Help approve a new textbook adoption… more money out the school’s door.
Advocate for a student facing identity or mental health issues.
Make sure everything I do is perfect and not upset any student, parent or admin.
Ensure I’m not one’s excuse for moving to a charter school.
Wonder if my job is in jeopardy or if I’ll be in the same building next year.
Fight for policy and change — do the job of elected officials and parents.
Validate why I picked this profession and defend teachers — we are not to blame.
Understand how culturally relevant pedagogy fits into my class today.
Learn all new technology and integrate it with the textbooks and curriculum.
Concentrate on a student dealing with trauma or gang affiliation.
Consider how to embed critical thinking, metacognition and retrieval strategies.
Break up a fight because one student looked at another.
Keep my doors open to welcome my students, but lock them in to protect them.
Refresh my content knowledge in the area I teach.
Get peer feedback on this list to remove a disgruntled tone.
The teachers of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School woke up this morning ready to stop kids from making out with their Valentines in the hallway during the change of classes and to sentence the distractingly large teddy bears, balloon bouquets and super-sized boxes of candy to the table in the corner of the back of the room that was reserved for such holidays as these. The absurd active shooter training from the beginning of the year was nowhere on their radar this morning as they rushed out the front door before the sun to stop at the Walgreens and pick up a bag of sweets to hand out at the end of the period to make sure every kid got a Valentine treat, that every kid felt loved and acknowledged by someone.
I can imagine that the many educators in that school building never thought that it would be their school, that they would ever be confronted by need to lock and block the door, turn out all the lights, huddle in one corner with their kids, and not open the door for anyone under any circumstance, that the only way someone would be getting into their rooms was with a key or over their dead bodies. The students, teachers and staff of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School lived through their worst fear this morning, as did the teachers of Sandy Hook.
And Virginia Tech.
And Columbine.
And the eighteen other campuses that have been sites of school shootings since January 1st.
The world is a beautiful place but we have to make it that way. Whenever you find home we’ll make it more than just a shelter. And if everyone belongs there it will hold us all together. If you’re afraid to die, then so am I.
7th June 2018
Reblogged From moyasu-xo-deactivated20230209
Notes: 1149839
