School Shootings? Nope.

Normally I shoot to be more polished and amusing but I’m not amused in light of the recent school shootings. As a teacher, I have thoughts and decided to actually try to share them rather than go to Facebook and post a bunch of memes., Though in fairness, I have might have posted a few. These are clearly my opinion and mine alone.

Hire some Vets to be armed guards

Please do not hire anyone to sit in my school with a weapon unless they are a real police officer. It’s a lovely idea in the sense that I am sure there are many vets who’d be more than qualified and happy to so such a service. Yet in what capacity would they serve? If there was an active shooter, wouldn’t they have to stand own anyway?  To me it seems to make more sense to have actual law enforcement on hand who can coordinate better with authorities. Nope.

Arm the Teachers

Have you met most teachers? The way society has singled us out over the years, we are on a disgruntled level that makes post office employees be great Hallmark store greeters. Sorry, but in all seriousness, I do not want this responsibility placed on me and I am guessing many teachers would agree. I have parents trying to get me in trouble with administrators because I won’t take late work from a kid who refused to do it when it was assigned in class. I cannot foresee carrying a weapon would come with any less difficulties. In addition to lesson plans, data review meetings, professional trainings, oh, and actually teaching in class to ensure we have a good graduation rate, now I have to be Dirty Harry? The responsibilities are dense already. I do not feel comfortable with conceal and carry added to that mound. Nope.

I have little faith in any school system to even come up with a way to manage and finance this plan.  It took me three years of begging to get a printer for my classroom that I didn’t have to pay for. I teach Special Ed and have to continuously write IEPS and other forms of governmental paperwork not including all the stuff I have to print out for my class and students. How would money be allocated and where would it come from? Where would this money be allocated from and what already underfunded programs would lose out? Arts in School? Hiring more teachers? Retirement? Nope.

Speaking of which, let’s be frank. I don’t get paid much and that’s fine. I am not here for a paycheck yet we don’t get raises or even a realistic cost of living bump anymore. If I see a bump in my paycheck it’s because I know my healthcare costs are going up. That’s not political it’s just what we teachers are dealing with: conservative and liberals. So now in addition to everything I else I do, I could potentially be trained to carry? Once again, where is this money coming from? And do you really want to arm folks already frustrated and underpaid?  I am not trying to be funny here. Teachers deal with high levels of depression and anxiety already. Nope.

 I’m going to be as honest and I can right here and I am not trying to be dramatic. Every morning right before class, I make sure to lock my classroom door. Some mornings, I just am feeling lazy or enjoying talking to a student and I don’t feel like it but then the reality hits me,” What if this was the day we have an active shooter?” I get off my ass and get that door locked ASAP.

It’s a pretty sobering thought to have but I’ve had it for several years now. I lost a friend and fellow teacher back in 2007 at Virginia Tech. Jamie Bishop and I worked together for a few years at a summer camp and became good friends. He was mowed down by the shooter protecting his students. I know Jamie and his excellent good nature. I have no doubts he did everything he could to disarm the situation but was shot anyway. I ask myself every time, will I be able to be brave like that if I have to square off with an active shooter? It terrifies me because I want to protect my class but I also do not want to be a soundbite like my friend has become when another shooting happens. I have this thought EVERY SINGLE DAY. Nope.

What do we do?

OK, nothing new here but this what I have from the perspective of a teacher with his own kids in High School

I had a nice bit written about removing assault weapons but let’s face it, you’ve already heard it so let’s focus on what you can do directly at home:

Listen to your kids. When I say this I don’t mean to spend 30 mins hearing about what latest YouTube star just ate a Tide pod. I mean listen to what they like, what they do, how they spend their time. If you can’t name one of their friends, START PAYING MORE ATTENTION. 

Make sure your kids are aware of their surroundings. They are actually in the schools. If someone is saying violent stuff, mention it to a teacher or a counselor and you, as the parent, follow up (with email to create paper trail) . Keep it within reason what is reported because remember teens do weird stuff but if your kid is talking about a student proudly proclaiming he is a sociopath or likes to hurt small animals, might be the time to say something. Better to be safe than sorry, it quite literally my mantra at school now. It’s much easier to apologize to a student and their parents rather than have to live with the guilt of knowing I could stop something horrible.

Tell them you love them and yes, this is not normal.

 I don’t get any of this nor do I understand any of it and why nothing is being done. About that I am very upfront with my kids. It’s not right. It’s a school not Beirut. My wife is great at getting our kids to open up and share their fears. From this we have usually a pretty good discussion about all this.  

It’s not an easy problem to solve with no easy solutions. The worst is that so much of this is dependent on factors out of our reach. Be loud. Make your voice heard. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and most all, vote out these a-holes getting gun lobby money from office.

I am going to put up with this anymore? Nope. 

All I Ever Wanted To Do Was Wear my Sandals...

          I subscribe to a Facebook page called Badass Teachers and I love it. I've actually found a group of teachers who are more militant than myself. A few days ago I came across a contest about hwy you became a teacher. The prize was a $700 Amazon gift card so how could I say no? 

          This is my entry which as usual I wrote on the fly. While I am not expecting to win in the least (my competition is pretty good), I am kinda psyched that I've entered my first writing contest. "First step in a larger world and all that, hopefully. 

           Anyway, while I watch the St Patrick's day Parade on the TV, Roni, Jude and I are loungin" about enjoying our last day of Spring Break. This might be the most productive result of that. 

            I got into to teaching for two reasons: 1. I was burned out in my current job and wanted to do something new  2. The person who talked me into it convinced me that I’d get to wear my beloved sandals to work every day.

            The person who shared this tidbit was Robyn Rice. Robyn and I were working at an Adults w/ Disabilities Program. Working directly with the guys was awesome but I had grown very tired of the program director and the politics involved in running the program. It was time for a change.

            Robyn was working alongside me as she finished her Masters in special education. She often tried to tell me how much happier I’d be in a classroom and how awesome I’d be with the kids. As much as I enjoyed having my ego stroked, I kept resisting. Looking back, I knew I was afraid. I knew teaching was a serious commitment and I just wasn’t sure I had it in me.

            But Robyn was relentless and eventually I caved. When I had spare time during the summer of 2002, I canvassed the Atlanta area trying to get my foot in the door. I figured I’d be able to start off as a parapro and work my way up. Nobody was hiring.

            By some stroke of luck I ended up in an interview through several strands of friends of friends. It was a middle school in Gwinnett County. I assumed I was there for the para pro job but in reality the principal, Ms. Malone, l was interviewing me for a Special Ed resource teacher.

            I have never been a religious man but higher forces were at work because I was hired after a 30 min interview to be a classroom sped teacher. Without a teaching certificate. This was a fact I was very upfront about but Ms. Malone explained there were in dire need and my background made me more than qualified. Besides GA had an accelerated teaching certificate program and she could get me in. A certificate would be about a year away with a little hard work. I walked into that middle school hoping to be a parapro. I walked out a 7^th grade Geography sped resource teacher.

            My father always told me the story of how his father taught him how to swim. It involved being tossed into the river and hoping for the best. My first year was a lot like this but somehow I adapted and found that I liked being a teacher. I’d spent years working with a variety of adults dealing with their disabilities in day-today life. Switching over to children had its moments but also provided so many rewards.

         

   My imagination was on fire trying to get these kids fired up about World Geography. Through the use of duct tape, discarded household items, and loads of imagination, I took my class on an archaeological dig in China, made up a class song when we built Africa drums out of coffee cans, and even created our own Egyptian burial chambers complete with Hieroglyphics describing our lives,. My favorite was the kid who had Spider-Man and Wolverine duking it over his kingdom.

            Education isn’t just what I did as a teacher, I quickly discovered. I also had other roles. I was a traffic director during bus call. Police negotiator during conflicts in the hall with class dismissal. Curriculum expert as I sorted through the textbooks to figure out how to scaffold my lessons. Testing expert at the end of the year when we doled out all the standardized tests. And I also learned I had to listen.

            Middle school is a rough time for a kid’s self-esteem. Being a sped student almost doubles that. Student feel singled sharing some classes then having to switch. We spent almost as much time processing that as learning about the economies of certain countries.

            Over time my time my classroom, which my students nicknamed “The Hobbit Hole”, gelled and my confidence in being called a teacher began to grow. I figure I made plenty of mistakes but I also felt like I learned from them. I wish I could say that every student I had in my seven periods of World Geography passed but they didn’t. I do believe they left my class at the end of May knowing they were just as valid as regular ed students and had the coping skills to be just as successful.

            Ms. Malone was good on her word and got me hooked up with that accelerated teaching program. Unfortunately, my math skills were badly out of practice and I didn’t score high enough on the Praxis Math portion to obtain a provisional certificate. My contract was not renewed even though I missed passing by one point.

            It was a bitter pill to swallow and I spent a few months upset with the world. Eventually that bitterness turned into something positive and I found myself studying harder than I ever had before and passing the Math portion of the Praxis. With my provisional in hand I eventually got hired at another middle school and went right back to work.

            The next few years would be a series of ups and downs as I tried to find a school which would be the right fit for me ideologically. I got married, divorced, and discovered I had end stage kidney disease but somehow got through all that and finally got my teaching certificate in 2009 when I earned my Masters in Special Education.  

            I am happy to report that I’ve spent the past 8 years teaching at the same high school my parents went to and even met at. I co-teach social studies and Literature and have never been happier. Even with all the controversy in merit pay and Common Core Curriculum, I look still enjoy this second career and still swell with pride when people asked me what I did for a living.

            I’m a special ed teacher. And I’ve still never worked at a school that would let me wear my sandals to work.