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With all of the recent fervor in US public discourse related to schools, teaching, curriculum, book content and school boards – it’s even easier for the important work that “everyday teachers” do every day to get lost in the noise. This idea has been rolling around inside me for almost 20 years now. I heard this in the context of coaching educators in major changes to their practice. It has been the foundation of every talk I’ve ever given, research I’ve ever written, or training I’ve ever provided about education so I’ve decided to share the back story.

Recently, I commented on one of the many teacher boards I follow to encourage a fellow educator. The recent post was related to the text of an email that a teacher received in approaching the touchy subject of a particular teaching philosophy. I just posted the gentle reminder that her colleague may feel offended because the teaching profession is intimate and very personal. I had no idea the type of response that this one comment would receive. As you can see the group moderator eventually had to turn off the comments.

I heard that statement when I was a fairly new teacher and at a time that the teaching profession was under attack. Now, I’m not going to unequivocally compare those years the NCLB and new accountability measures rolled out to teachers’ experience in school year 2021-2022. But there are some similarities. First of all, big flashy curriculum companies and teacher education programs told us teaching was a certain way, and there is always a level of trust applied. We had all developed our instruction, behavior management and thematic units based upon a world where certain knowledge had been passed down for many generations of teachers, researchers and other experts. SUDDENLY, there had to be a reset of everything we knew.

On some level the same thing has happened this school year. NOTHING we knew now applies, except a few basic principles. I won’t bore you with further details, so just trust me when I say that the tables literally flipped in those years and it was as though we’d all gone through the looking glass.

Unless you’ve been a teacher or loved a teacher, it’s difficult to understand how much of ourselves we pour into one lesson. In fact, I spent 23 years trying to convince my daughter she didn’t want to be a teacher because of the personal cost. Today, I’m helping her arrange her lessons as head teacher for a few dozen pre-schoolers. – insert mom smirk-

So, if it’s in you…it HAS to come out. I’m as excited for her as I was the first time I realized I could really “make it my own”, but I’m terrified for her because I know the personal cost.

In a phenomenon that mirrors many other realms of life just now, teachers are being told to ”balance”, to not give up their lives for teaching. The issue is, that’s an impossible task, and I honestly just wish we’d be real about it. Teaching is HARD, and if it is done properly – where you are literally pouring yourself into learners – there is a path to success. Unfortunately, all efforts and half measures don’t work. Can we foresee a scenario where we stop trying to make teaching easier and just support teachers with that they need to be successful?

As many of you educators go on holiday break, pondering whether to take that online tutor job, leave for Silicon Valley, or become an insta-success…please remember that you aren’t doing anything wrong if you are giving yourself to those learners every day. They are needy and you are human, and education administration is a mess….but I’ll leave that for another post.