Hail, Rain, or Sunshine

 

Over Spring Break, I had the opportunity to take a couple of days off from work and do some maintenance on my house. This gave me a great opportunity to catch up on some podcasts and also listen to some music to pass the time. During one particular stretch of time, I found myself listening to The Script's Hail, Rain, or Sunshine over and over again. I'm not exactly sure why the song got stuck on repeat in my head, but I have figured out over the years that when this type of thing happens, it probably means that I need to stop and reflect a little on what I am listening to and try to make it relatable to my current situation. After a little bit, I realized that the title and hook of the song really resonates with me and says a lot about the person I am and how I approach life. More specifically, I find comfort in knowing that regardless of what I am going through, I am going to push through no matter the obstacles that are in my way. Hail, rain, or sunshine are not going to stop me from moving forward.

We live in some pretty trying times as educators. There are a lot of issues that we are facing that aren't really good for schools or the students we teach. As educators, however, we largely keep quiet because the classroom and school are not places to impose our ideals and indoctrinate students, regardless of what the talking heads on television or politicians say. We are humble servants who go to extraordinary lengths to make sure students read and write and become engaged and employed citizens of our communities in the future. If anyone for one moment would actually stop and think critically, a skill we are trying to teach our students, they would realize that the biggest issue we face in education is student attendance and engagement. Our schools are microcosms of the communities they are in, so it should not be a surprise that if certain things happen in the community, they are going to end up in our schools eventually. We has educators really have no time to indoctrinate our students about our own beliefs because we are too busy trying to get students to show up to school and do the work that is going to help them demonstrate their understanding of the curriculum. Hail, rain, or sunshine won't stop us from trying to accomplish this goal.

I'm tired that my people (educators) are being villianized by others who have never set foot in a classroom beyond their own school experience. I'm tired of people making decisions based off faulty metrics and assumptions they have about schools they have never been in. There is a thought going around on the internet (see below) about substitute teaching being a requirement like jury duty and how it might impact people's perceptions of what actually goes on in school. While it is certainly an interesting thought to ponder, I wonder how long it would take for people to try to backpedal and say they aren't trained to do the job even though almost everyone has an opinion on what they would do if they were a teacher. It's exhausting to try to defend what we do as professionals, but hail, rain, or sunshine won't stop me.

Working in public schools is hard. Parents send us the very best they have on a daily basis and we don't turn them away. We don't have the luxury that private schools or charter schools have by selecting who gets to attend and who doesn't. In public schools, we show up whether its hail, rain, or sunshine and we do the heavy lifting that others CANNOT or WON'T do. I say CANNOT or WON'T because it is oftentimes those people who have the strongest opinions about public schools and why they are "failing" when, in fact, they are doing more work than most professionals and not getting paid nearly enough. It's not a gripe, it's a reality and the sooner we all can come to an agreement on this, the sooner we can actually address some significant issues we face.

A blog isn't going to change the world. It only has the opportunity to start a conversation. That conversation should start and end with the fact that the people who are educating our kids are working their tails off in a job that isn't honored or respected like it should be. Do we have people who shouldn't be educators? Absolutely. The same can also be said for doctors, lawyers, politicians, and other professional jobs. The difference, however, is that whether it's hail, rain, or sunshine, we'll show up for the kids and families we serve no matter what. We don't have a choice. We do the job because it's hard and if we didn't, no one else would. Let that sink in for just a moment.

#OwnYourEpic #Embrace

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