Back to school is coming up next week. Which means, we had mandatory Zoom training this week. Which means I had a series of small heart attacks and several rage induced blackouts before lunch.
For about 5 minutes I thought there was a Public School Teacher Abuse Hotline and I had a lot of calls to make.
Hello, 111? Calls for Help from a Public School Teacher.
- Hello, 111….I’ve just been told our reward for surviving COVID is a pay CUT and working Saturdays for 10 months straight.
- Hello, 111…..I guess the color purple is mandatory…..not the movie….just like…the color in general.
- Hello, 111…..an administrator just sent a series of “teaching is its own reward” gifs in a group chat. Please log this as a hate crime.
- Hello, 111……our school won’t buy us whiteboard markers but they bought us dozens of individually bagged, soggy tuna mini sandwiches which no one asked for or consumed. Can I trade them in for whiteboard markers?
- Hello, 111……I just spent 100% of my workday at a lecture that said lecturing should be 5% of your class.
- Hello, 111……I’ve just been reminded to “think of the children” by someone who can’t name a single child at this school. Can you audit them?
- Hello, 111…..there’s been some general consensus among the higher ups that our school isn’t racist but also…..no Filipinos?
- Hello, 111…..there is a new idea making its way around that “learning can be FUN!” Could you promptly congratulate the people who made this breakthrough in 2020 and get us their bank details so we as public school teachers can just go ahead and transfer them what little is left of our salaries?
(This list is a parody of my favorite chapter from one of my favorite authors Samantha Irby’s latest book of essays “Wow, no thank you” .)
All this is real but it’s really to say THANK YOU to donors of Make Our Day because without you, I would not teach in a public school. I would be going straight home and crying and drafting resignation emails.
We’ve lost so many good teachers in the last few years and we will lose more because of the disconnect between how much people say they value education and how little they value teachers in practice. The sad thing is, when a good teacher wants to leave, we encourage them and try to help because we know this job is untenable.
The public education system treats students and teachers alike like we’re just not trying hard enough. Like it’s our effort that’s lacking while they provide fewer and fewer resources each year.
It’s like we need to put on a zoom training for the people making decisions on our behalf and take several hours to say things that could have been an email like………students and teachers are just people, not standardized test taking, lesson plan producing robots.
People want to be valued, to be acknowledged, to be treated fairly and with respect. To not be talked down to. To make enough money to pay bills or as a student not to be afraid that you won’t get lunch. To have relationships to look forward to every day. To have someone that has your back….for real.
My kids have that. Thank you for having our back for #Back2School_2020.
LOTS of Love From Munchkinland,
Teacha Katie
I will probably spend about $250 to get everything we need for back to school for Math, IT, Reading, Writing, and Tourism. If you’d like to donate towards school supplies, we be shoppin next week.
MAKE OUR DAY 