Educator SEL?
It seems that every time I turn around, there is a PD for teachers to provide SEL (Socio Emotional Learning) opportunities for our students, but where is the SEL for the teachers? I know we are grown-ups, but we are not super-human (no matter how awesome we may seem). I know that admin is under a lot of stress and pressure from those above them and the chain keeps going up, but there is a lot to be said for true, heart-felt appreciation. In my 20 years of teaching, a impromptu cup of coffee brought by a parent, an offer to bring me lunch, or a heartfelt word of appreciation or encouragement really does so much to turn a day around or give me the drive to finish the day well.
Coming to a staff meeting and being told that we are educators, so we will stay after our contract hours to deal with school things or we can leave and be replaced does not do anything positive for morale. Yet, this is the message so many teachers are hearing, receiving, and experiencing. Cue the mass exodus of teachers... Schools are in crisis as the overworked, overstressed, and underappreciated teachers are choosing to leave for their mental health. Those of us still holding down the fort are acquiring their workload in addition to our own, still expected to have our students show growth, still expected to meet our students emotional and behavioral needs, and still have the pressure of no substitute pool when there is a Covid exposure, so the cycle continues.
During the Quarantine, teachers had to pivot and learn remote teaching in one day! No training, no support, just DO IT. It's HARD. I spent over 12 hours a day attending free seminars, digitizing workbooks to try to make them first grader friendly, and recording lessons. Now that we are back 5 days a week, when a student is out, the parent asks for the work to be sent to them or asks if they can just hop online to join the class. Parents, please understand how incredibly all encompassing a classroom full of students already is. So many personalities, emotional needs, learning needs, friendship navigations, behavior needs are all in the room and need our full focus in addition to a dynamic lesson to learn. Having a child connected on the computer is distracting, chains the teacher to the computer, and someone is missing out. It is HARDER.
What other profession has these types of expectations? A business meeting... Jump on ZOOM, no big deal. Out sick?... Out sick. In teaching, out sick?...make detailed plans for someone to completely ignore and come back and try to figure out what did and didn't happen in your absence. Student out sick...make sure they have all their lessons accessible; bend over backwards to put the work together to have the student return without having done any of it. Sure...no problem. Now I'll use my class-time to catch them up while still teaching everyone else something new and making sure no-one is mean to each other because I'll hear about it in an email and be expected to fix it.
This is the reality of what we are dealing with and it is not OK. All in all, if I were to compare my teaching situation to the situation of other teachers out there, it's not that bad. But the realities mentioned above are the realities I deal with daily. As a person who absorbs and feels other peoples' pain, I'm choosing to mute some of the teaching groups I'm in to keep as positive a mindset as possible. This is a choice I have to make for my own SEL. The teachers' posts and comments are all VALID and true, but heart-breaking and send my mind into a negative spiral. I'm glad those groups exist for teachers to have a safe place to share their experiences with others who completely understand, I just can't read about it right now in order to soldier on.
I give my full effort and heart into my teaching and care about my students' growth and success, and that's the best I can do. All the rest, I'm choosing to close out, keep my head down, love my family, and do my best.
Appreciate your child's teacher these coming months. Understand how hard they are working and do your part to teach your child to be kind, respectful, and do their best. I'm a mom too and we tell our son that it's NOT OK for him to make his teacher's job harder.
Be Kind: Show Appreciation
