Skip to main content

The Winter of Our Discontent


Yes, I know it's spring. But the heat hasn't worked in my classroom for at least two weeks. The heat works in all the other classrooms in the building. Just not mine. And being that it is a 100 year old building in California, there is no insulation. So it would be basically the same temperature inside as out if there weren't 18 little energetic bodies warming it up. Even with that, I'm teaching with my coat and scarf on. The thermostat guy has been out to see it but left again and there's still no heat. I'm afraid he's taking lessons from the clock guy.

And the union just voted for a strike. Or, not necessarily a strike, but likely. Without getting into district/union politics, which I have plenty of opinions on, I just need to say that I can't go on strike. I mean, morally. I also can't really afford to, but that's another story. I have three kids in my class who have had both parents abandon them and are living with grandparents. I have another who lives in fear of his abusive parents, and the majority of the rest of them have had one parent leave them for one reason or another. As scary as it may seem, I am the most stable adult in many of their lives and definitely the adult who gets the most waking time with them. They won't understand the strike as anything other than another adult who said they loved them leaving.

But I also want to be recognized for what I do. It would be nice to be paid what I'm worth, but I'd settle for it being acknowledged. In case of a strike, the (largely unqualified) subs will make $300 a day. Over twice what most teachers make (although without benefits) and fewer hours. The superintendent says that education will continue. Really?

Are these $300 a day subs going to go to kids' games, karate tests, birthday parties and churches? Are they going to dream about the kids, pray for them, make lists of the good things about them, find their favorite books, search the Internet for the one subject that interests that kid, feed them, and use up their cell phone minutes calling their parents for good and bad behavior? Will they beg everyone they've ever met to volunteer or donate, worry that they've ruined the kids' lives forever, pull out their hair, explain that repeating first grade does not make you stupid, listen to descriptions of relatives' funerals, make up funny nicknames for each kid, know that 'white kid' means Latino, scold them in Spanish, know the names of kids in other grades, or tell the kids they love them even when they yell? Are the kids going to know that these subs love chocolate and reading more than anything, frequently check out so many books from the library that they drop them all over the playground, can catch them swearing in Spanish, know which streets not to drive down, want to have beautiful brown skin, dye their hair, fall down stairs because they're reading, or have a dog who takes cheeseburger wrappers out of trash cans?

I have a lot to learn still about both teaching and loving these kids, but even for $300 a day, you can't replace me.
Labels:

Comments

Jessamyn Harris said…
you fell down the stairs?

nerd.

xoxo
9:44 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Volunteers

I had some of the most overqualified volunteers ever in my third grade class.  This may have had something to do with the fact that I shamelessly begged my friends to help in any way possible.  I think there were a few friends who I asked to come as soon as I met them, before I was entirely sure of their names.  Some of my volunteers included: -Someone with an MFA helping kids read -a PhD candidate in chemical engineering from Stanford helping with math -a PhD candidate in civil engineering from Cal helping with math -several PhD candidates in engineering from Cal teaching about construction (several years in a row) and helping with a field trip -my extremely talented brother bringing his drums several times -a friend from Pixar who got us tours three different years, once when they were no longer giving tours - and came to the class to sign the kids' toys from Cars . -a physical therapist (who I think has a masters') who helped the kids with reading -many athlet...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Difference a School Makes

Update:   9/28/26: If you are reading this, the spoiler alert is that things got much harder for Jorge after this, and we kept in touch over the decades, even as he’s been incarcerated. He’s getting out of prison in early 2027 and I’m raising money to help him start his life fresh because everyone deserves second chances. Please take a look! Wow. I've talked before about the two kids that a friend and I mentor in a way. I'll call them Jorge (the older one) and Luis (the younger). I had Jorge in my class in third grade and he has had it rough. He's the oldest of six children and was born when his mother was 14. His mom is frequently in rehab or jail, although she seems to have been out for the last couple of years. If she's clean or not is anyone's guess. Jorge helped his grandmother raise Luis. He's always been super over-responsible, stressed out, and had way too many adult responsibilities. About a year ago, Jorge started to crack. He was 13, which isn't f...
1 comment
Read more

Cinderella, retold (and much better)

A seventh-grade student rewrote Cinderella and I think it’s much better! The Dressmakers Once there was a girl named Cinderella whose mother died. Then her father married again, a woman who did not care for Cinderella. She only cared for her own daughters and her husband's fortune. Cinderella’s father made sure they were always fair to Cinderella but two years later,  her father died. Cinderella was left alone with her  stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella was treated like a house maid but got no money for her work. She had to make the meals, iron the clothes and more. But on some things, like cleaning the windows and floor, Cinderella had to clean them five times per day or according to her stepmother, they will not shine as much as they should.    Cinderella would often cry by a tree by her parents' graves. In that tree lived a little bird who Cinderella would talk with. She would talk to the bird about her stepmother’s many chores and little love for her, a...
1 comment
Read more