Risky Business

Teachers are not surgeons who can save or end a life during an operation.
Teachers are not lawyers who can present a case that sends someone to prison or sets them free.
Teachers are not Police officers who can protect those who can't protect themselves.
Teachers are not pilots who are responsible for the transportation of many people.

Instead teachers are people that parents trust to provide a safe, nurturing, learning environment. Parents trust teachers to love their kids. Parent trust teachers to provide guidance and structure to their kids. Parents trust that teachers know what they are doing. Parents trust teachers to help their children grow into the best they can be. Parents trust that teachers will do what is best for their kid.

For a teacher to do what a parent is trusting (depending on, counting on, hoping for) them to do requires the teacher to "have" those kids. Those students become the teacher's kids. It isn't just showing up in the morning and putting on a show. It isn't planning lesson and then carrying them out. It isn't using the right textbook, giving the right assignment, writing a good test question.

Teaching the way parents hope we will is building a family in the classroom. Teaching this was is building a place where each student is loved and accepted. Teaching this way is building a place where each kid can flourish. Teaching this way is exhausting.

Teaching this way can't happen when things are unstable, just like unstable families have a huge challenge in providing a good environment for their kids. Teaching this way can't happen when the family gets so big that you can't know each student. Teaching this way can't happen without rest.

As students and teachers return to school, I hope that teachers have had a restfully and recharging summer. I hope that the teachers returning are ready to meet their new families.

Teachers may not end or save a life on an operating table, but they do save lives.
Teachers may not work in court rooms, but they do set people free (or imprison them).
Teachers may not carry guns or handcuffs, but they do (should) protect those who can't protect themselves.
Teachers may not fly planes, but they are responsible for the safely transporting students through more than just the air.