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It's Been a Minute--a Really Long Minute [1]

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Date: 2022-07-02

When July hits, teachers like me tend to get somewhat melancholy. We realize that 1/3 of our summer is over. Now, we are used to this (at least I am because I’ve been teaching since the time of Moses --maybe not exactly, but when I first started teaching, I had to type my worksheets on a TYPEWRITER, so you get the idea). Summers always zip by, not unlike weekends. And it doesn’t help that box stores have started to put out their back-to-school products. And the weather this summer hasn’t been terrific (but that’s another story and scary reality).

Besides time speeding by and seeing that the calendar says July 2, the usual joy of the 4th of July weekend just isn’t there for me this year. I’ve always loved the 4th of July. I crave the cookouts, the fun, the typical Independence Day festivities and of course, the fireworks. But, currently America feels more like Gilead (check out Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale). A month ago I had autonomy over my body. Two months ago I felt relatively safe in my classroom and didn’t have nightmares about moving my students to safety should an active shooter enter our school. So, here I am anxious about the fact that our Supreme Court is far more worried about my possible unborn child than my 100+ very alive high schoolers.

The last three years have seemed like an eternity in the classroom. I think most of us finally started to feel a sort of return to normal this past spring, but the expectations of teachers (that have always been unrealistic and challenging) will only increase as schools fear lost learning time and see assessment scores lower due to the recent pandemic. I don’t think I’ve been so taxed and stressed by my job since my first year of teaching. And to borrow a Madeline Hunter phrase, the “feeling tone” in my school has been antagonistic. Colleagues, once supportive, have become isolated and frustrated. We point fingers at each other as opposed to defend each other. Parents and administration have added unbelievable expectations to educators’ plates. I’ll speak more to this in future blogs, but few of us feel energized and appreciated.

So, where does an educator go from here? Where does a woman (at least an American woman) go from here? I don’t know. How do I return to my summer school class on Tuesday happy and ready to teach for three more weeks? To be fair, my periodic despair is rarely tied to students. Their energy and enthusiasm keep many of us coming back each day. But how do we face another challenging year rejuvenated and excited? Or maybe more importantly, how do some of us relocate to Canada or England with our daughters? And if we do relocate, how do we find a teaching job in another country? How do we slow down July and August? I don’t know. I just don’t know.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/2/2108017/-It-s-Been-a-Minute-a-Really-Long-Minute

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