Teaching...there's a lot going on!

So...anyone who teaches, knows a teacher, or loves a teacher knows that there is a lot going on right now in education. Those people also know that it is NOT about raises. It's about funding education for our children!

This is my eleventh year of teaching, and I love my job! I mean it. Of course, I wake up some days, and I'm tired. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the occasional snow day too. But, I am beyond blessed that I get to wake up each day and be excited about going to work.

I know that I am like so many other teachers who never went into my job based on a salary. I knew there wasn't a lot of money to be made. I knew that I wasn't going to get rich or famous. I didn't care because teaching wasn't a job for me; it is a passion. It's my purpose.

There are other people besides teachers who take care of our students too. We have teachers assistants who make less a day than a substitute in many districts. That's crazy. People who are hired to be there day in and day out are making less than temporary helpers. We have to give them more. They deserve more!

What about our schools? Many of the buildings are falling apart. I worked at a school that my husband attended as a child. He joked for years that he was tripping over the same missing tiles while he helped me on the weekends as he did when he went to school there as a student. That's crazy, but that is the norm. One winter my students kept complaining about the cold air coming in through the windows, so my husband was going to install weather stripping (which was out of our own money - this is also the norm for teachers). To our surprise, my window wasn't even attached anymore and fell out of the building. How is that safe, and I was lucky. I worked in one of the building in our district that was well cared for. I was lucky; our building even had central heat and air. Does that seem like an odd perk for a building? It's like this all over Oklahoma. Why? How it is even possible? But, it is.

So, when you watch the news and see teachers walking out, please understand why. If you watch the news, and you see some teachers who aren't walking out, please understand that it's not because our views are different than those who are walking out. We all want the same thing. We want what is the best for our kiddos. We want everything that they deserve: a great education in the great state of Oklahoma. We don't teach for money. We don't teach for fame. We don't teach for recognition. We teach because we love it! We love our students! We aren't asking for money just for US. We aren't worried just for US. We are asking for them! We are worried for them! We are worried for the students of Oklahoma! We are their voice. Our concern has always been and will forever be THEM!