For a Moment

For a moment we were heroes.

In the midst of a global pandemic, teachers were hailed as beyond essential. Parents, politicians, and celebrities were declaring that we should be paid “a million dollars a day, and it still wouldn’t be enough”, or some similar hyperbolic declaration of our worth. With no warning, very little leadership from the federal, state, or even local government in many cases, teachers revamped curriculum and learned how to facilitate distance learning. More importantly, we let kids know that during this crazy, scary, uncertain time, when everything has changed, there is one thing that hasn’t changed. We are still your teachers, and we are still right here for you.

I want to let you in on a little secret. We weren’t being called heroes because we started doing things differently, but rather because the public caught a glimpse of what we do inside the walls of our classrooms every day. We love children. We teach them. With little to no warning we change the way we teach them because what we were doing before isn’t working for them. We evaluate their needs, and sometimes they need a heart to heart talk more than a lesson, so we stop what we are doing and listen to them. We see that they don’t have food, so we feed them. We see that they look sad, so we pull them aside in class to let them know that even though they seem to be going through a really tough time, we are here for them.

The moment has passed. The words of affirmation are gone, and not backed up by any sort of action. Teachers across the board are facing pay cuts, lack of normal step increases, and job insecurity. Some of us are facing technology challenges as we know that we will likely have some form of hybrid between distance teaching and face to face instruction when school opens back up. And it's ok. We never signed up for this to be heroes, or even to be fairly paid, but would help if people would stop sending us mixed messages.

For a moment, it felt good to be a hero. :)