I am a TEACHER....

I am a teacher, a lover of teens, a social worker, a mentor and a disciplinarian. I am a teacher. I am CEO of 135 employees a day who are TEENAGERS. But unlike other CEO's I only see my employees for 45 minutes a day and in that time, my job must be done. I INSTRUCT subject matter, but I TEACH so much more. I teach your child not only to respect me, but to respect others and most importantly to respect themselves. I teach that life is NOT a level playing field. We all are not blessed with talent, high IQ's nor perfect families. But we all are blessed with the opportunity to be educated. I teach rules. Follow my rules and life is good, break my rules and there are consequences; this my friends is merely a consequence of life, not only in MY classroom but in society. You may not like my classroom rules, but the lesson of following is important. I teach acknowledgement of others. We recognize that each and every one of us in the classroom has our own history and those histories are as varied as we are. And those histories are ingrained in us and become us and are to be acknowledged. Different cultures and customs and backgrounds are to be honored, not made fun of and laughed at. We raise our hands, we don't talk over others, we say yes ma'am and no ma'am, because I am a person of authority in their lives, but this favor is returned to them. I also say yes ma'am and no ma'am and yes sir and no sir in return. They are due my respect as well. Am I a perfect teacher, no. Do I make mistakes, yes. But in my heart I do what I think is best for your child. I am honored to have them in my life and I will do my very best ( and have for 28) years to see that they grow under my tutelage. At times there are 26 different personalities in my room at one time. Each with their own needs, problems, visions and expectations. A good teacher does NOT treat every child the same because they are NOT the same. They are not carbon copies of each other. A good teacher recognizes that individual needs must be met and sometimes it seems that favoritism is played, but in truth, when a child deals with more at 16 than many parents have dealt with at 40, then a good teacher gives what is needed to be given to help that child in any and all ways. Do I lower my expectations for that child? NO! But do I sometimes cut corners, and give a little leeway when I know a child has no place to live, no food to eat or has worked until 2 a.m. every night for a week? You bet I do. IF that seems unfair to others, then I'm sorry. A hand up is never a bad thing. I do this under the eye of a critical society. Why don't you do this? We did it back in my day. Well, let me tell you, these kids have new skills sets to learn that you probably had not even heard of when you were in school. The world is changing every millisecond so we have to teach what will lead your child to success. I do this with the state telling me what to teach because at the end of the year, our students are tested on what the state deems important. So can we cover all the bases we want to? NO. Because our schools are judged on state mandated performance. I am fortunate enough to teach a subject that is not tested at the end of the year, but I see other teachers struggle every day to run the race of Standardized Testing. I do this making less money this year than last year, and less last year than the year before and the year before that. When we reach a certain level our salaries are frozen but insurance and taxes continue to rise, so seasoned teachers are putting less in their pockets each year. O, but you say, you get paid in the summer and you're not working. NOT true. We are paid for 187 days of work a year, this money is spread out over 12 months. We are NOT paid for NOT working in the summer. I do this because I love your child and I love teaching. I do this because it is a calling not just a job. I do this to make a difference.