Teachers Making a Difference Despite Ongoing Difficulties

Working with some amazingly talented and dedicated teaching professionals in the last fifteen years has been a privilege for me. Regardless of what is happening in the Statehouse with local education needs and initiatives, teachers in the State of Idaho are making due with what they have and what they do not have in order to provide the best education possible for students. I have specific colleagues who can attest to that fact.

I also have evidence from other teachers across the country who are similarly just trying to make the best of what they have in order to teach the students. Of course, some state educators this past spring walked out of their classrooms to show legislatures they are fed up with the lack of respect and pay for them. I do not see Idaho educators walking out because we know we cannot take the time away from students when we already have limited time with them, especially when students are so far behind already.

One of my good friends and mentors, Jonelle W., recently wrote, “in 25 years, I have developed a little bit of a tough skin. I know that I’m not going to reach every student the same way.  There will be some who I connect with and others who dread every minute of my class.” This is exactly how I have felt as one day this past year I found two anonymous notes from students on my desk. One note was of gratitude thanking me for teaching him/her, while the other one said I was a bully to students. I laughed at the irony that day. Although I have only been teaching three years, I can empathize with Jonelle’s words: there are just some students no matter how you try to engage them, they cannot be reached. The students we do make a difference to make it worthwhile.

In my three years teaching professionally, and ten years working as a special education assistant, I have worked with some challenging students and some who are simply a delight to work with day to day. I also know some of my colleagues who seem to be smiling even when I know they have had some trials with some students, such as my good friend Nic D. who has been teaching for ten years. He recently told one of my sophomore classes that no matter what he is feeling day to day, “I want my students to know that I notice them each day so that they know someone cares,” because not all students get that at school, and maybe not even at home. I know that just smiling at someone, even someone I see around town, makes a difference to them and to me, even for just a moment. Jonelle’s and Nic’s resilience in going the extra mile to make a difference to others, despite difficulties with some students, helps me to be more outgoing both as a teacher and as a member of the community. 

Another one of my friends and mentors, Vicki B., helped remind me that I am someone I need to take care of as well as my students. In fact, one day during a non-student workday, she came in to find me at my desk. I had been discouraged after teaching night school plus my regular two preps. I was exhausted and contemplating why I was putting myself through all of the stress. Vicki came in to tell me she had noticed that I had been looking burned out lately. She was worried about me. In me, she saw herself during her first three years in teaching. Now she has been teaching for twenty years, but she has learned how vital it is to not put too much on your plate. I need to learn to say no to extra meetings and teaching night school. I need to learn to focus on my own health so that my teaching does not suffer. Vicki even brought me a laminated poster to put at my desk that read, “I am someone I too need to take care of.” Her gift touched me and helped me to remember that I am not alone in the teaching profession.

I also am humbled at the fact that all of us educators need special colleagues we can turn to when overwhelmed. We have so many students to look after and to see to their learning needs, but if we are not healthy and emotionally able to handle the job then that is when we ourselves suffer. 

I recently read another blog about the teacher walkouts in some states. This author explained perfectly how the devastation caused by the lack of support for teachers across the country has caused teachers to say enough is enough. The author, Seth Nichols, on his blog, Known.com, writes:  

“It’s not about the pay.  It’s about all of the ways an entire sector of the country’s most selfless givers have been complicit to a system that has evolved to bilk them every way it can:  of their time, their money, their energy, and their emotions.

Pay for it yourself.

Create it yourself.

Stay late and put on that function yourself.

Meet during your time. 

Work during your weekend.

Be kind to people yelling, ignoring, cussing, and hitting you.  Then, make sure they pass the new standards.

…And be prepared to take bullets for them, too.

These things are not said as much as they are collectively understood, much worse.

Tacit expectations are the ones we feel least able to challenge.”

I completely agree with Nichols as not only have I done all of these items on his list, but I also know countless other teachers just managing by doing the same things. My mom, Connie, was a kindergarten teacher for twenty-one years before she retired. Every Thursday, she would stay at school until nine or ten at night to prepare for the next week; mom would even go in on the weekend, especially at the end of the quarter when it would take her all weekend to do report cards. She would create her own template for crafts for the students to work on. She would buy her own supplies and only got reimbursed for about 25% of it; Connie loved the back to school deals starting every July. She would also help other teachers, especially student teachers she mentored, with finding lessons and materials. Connie was fortunate enough to have a walk-in closet at the back of her room to keep every type of craft and game she might ever need. When a teacher at her school needed something, they would go see her. I am sure they missed her when she retired.

Connie is an example of Nichol’s statement that, “It’s about a workplace culture that has formed around our most deeply invested, caring, and empathetic sector – our women.” Nichols’ honesty is the reality of our education system that has been complacent for far too long. I admire his openness as well as my mother’s, and my professional colleagues’ unending willingness to just do a good job by providing whatever students need to learn.

Now I am a writer as well as a teacher. Being a writer, I know I can further make a difference for those in education, especially to students, by continuing to identify and share the positives and negatives happening in our education system. Nichols further explains, “You get what you pay for, and if we want good teachers, we had better pony up before she leaves us to go live happily ever after with a company that will treat her right.” The truth is in his words, as well as the actions of many others of us who want to improve the way our country looks at teachers.

All of the people in political roles in State Houses and in Washington D.C. were once students who had to have been taught by someone. Even those who disapprove of public education, and who perhaps prefer home schooling as that was their experience, still need to realize many families do not have a choice in education. All children must be educated in some form to be successful in our country as adults. How can we improve their chances for success if we cannot give teachers the respect, the financial backing for necessities and supplies, and the equal pay as those in other states and countries? Idaho is ranked 40^th for teacher salary levels according to a recent post by the National Education Association. As far as our rankings in the world, we fall way behind countries that are paving the way for exceptional education to students, like in Luxembourg, or South Korea.

CNN author, Katy Pisa reports, “ Europe ranks as the best place to teach in terms of salaries, according to the OECD report which includes 35 countries. In Luxembourg, for example, starting teachers’ salaries are greater than what many teachers will see in their lifetime.” All of this further boils down to respect: it is not just about the money teacher earn, but rather, “With all the top-achieving countries, Schleicher said there is one thing in common: “It’s not about pay, but the status of the profession is more a result of it being intellectually attractive to become a teacher” (Pisa 2017).

Students cannot be successful if teachers are not valued; teachers cannot be valued unless everyone in our society sees that the majority of our problems with violence, school shootings, and healthcare issues, stem from the quality of education students received growing up. 

Despite our shortcomings as a nation, I am proud to know so many educators who are making education work, day in and day out. We may still have long road ahead of us as far as getting what we deserve, and yet, no matter what I know that our students are in good hands.