It's Not Easy




If being an educator was easy, anyone could do it.

Throughout my time in education there is one thing that stands out to me. Being an educator is not easy.  
When I entered my first year of teaching, I was not as good at building relationships as I am now. At least I wasn’t as intentional. Even though I knew that relationships were the foundation for everything, I wasn’t very good at building them. Every year I would start by doing some type of team building activities, where we create a culture of community and trust. We would build relationships and students knew they could come to me if they had a problem.

I was a elementary physical education teacher that traveled to six sites a week, and I was teaching anywhere from 90-120 students at a time. It wasn’t the easiest first teaching job, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. It taught me more than I could ever imagine and opened my eyes to even more.

I had standards that we worked towards each and every week. There were assessments, rubrics were used, and evaluations were conducted. One day, when the bell rang a mother approached me. She was irate. She began yelling and screaming at me. She was upset that her daughter received feedback and a plan on how to become a better runner in order to run a faster mile time. It was no different from feedback that was given to others. However this mom was mad!
After about 15 minutes of being yelled at, other teachers realized what was going on and soon the principal appeared. She calmed the parent down and brought her to the office. It was there where we sat and talked her concerns through. About 5 minutes into the conversation, the principal looked up at the mom and told her that if she did not change her tone, the meeting was over. The mom continued in her demeaning tone and right then the principal asked me to leave and then told the mom that this meeting was over.

The tone was set right then and there. We are going to speak with respect to each other or we are not discussing matters.

I am reminded of this story this year as we start the school year. It seems every time I turn around there are people who are being rude to educators for no reason. As I talk with friends from around the country I am comforted in knowing it is not just me.
I lose sleep every night trying to think of ways to help students at school. I miss family time every night because I worry about a decision that I made that day or have made in the past. I gain gray hairs daily as I worry about whether or not an intervention will work for a student. I don’t eat lunch because I am running around trying to supervise hundreds of kids as they eat and their teachers eat their lunch. I miss out on family vacations because I want to be at every school function. I miss other opportunities because I think about every situation as a father/teacher/and as a principal. My heart is in this job because I love kids.

I have moments where I question what I am doing. Am making a difference? Am I needed? Then I walk into a classroom and sit down alongside a child who is struggling. 15 minutes working with them brings me back to my why. “ I love kids and I love learning.”

Education is a team sport and too often when we see our colleagues struggling, we sit and watch them drown. Be The One who gets up and gives them a hug. Give them a shoulder to cry on. Listen to them as they share their struggles.

Educators have such a difficult job. We must support each other.

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