Stephanie Cooper

2022

Being an educator in a career caught on fire and what it means to be the few who run back into the burning building.

Teaching has been wild since 2020 hit our calendars and covid hit our shores. Everything has changed, morale has changed, and at times I feel like I am drowning in a system that does not care about me as an educator. Teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, and overworked. We know that because it has always been that way. Now we live in a world where students use cell phones to target staff members for views, they vandalize school property to be funny, and the fear of failing or getting into trouble has almost disappeared. Why? I won't get into that because it involves a lot of information on teachers, parents, admin, students, and a lot of statistics and data I do not have. So, I will not pretend I know enough solid information to place the blame. Sometimes, as the world industrializes further and social interaction shifts and takes a tangent, we experience changes in generational behavior. That does not make it the fault of a single group. Period.

I wanted to point out how unstable my career choice is in this moment, that way I can honestly describe the risk I take every day I decide to run back into the burning building I call the education system. I do not mean my district or my state. I mean the institution of education and teaching itself. I am mainly putting focus on my attitude and how it is detrimental to the institution of education that teachers tough this phase out.

What happens when we have a wire basket full of honey crisp apples and we place a moldy, sour apple somewhere in that basket? The mold spread and infects the rest of the fresh fruit. Pretty soon everything is sour. That is what happened to me this year, and it was not until recently that I realized how I had regressed in my attitude. Instantly I noticed that not much about my world had changed. My classroom is four walls- that is it and that is where I spend most of my day. I control what happens in there, and I have had great students this year. Daringly I will say this year is the best group of 9th graders I have ever had. My children have been really sick this year and I have missed some work, but never have I been reprimanded or treated differently. I was supported. So why did I grow so unhappy with my everyday routine and why did I convince myself I hated it? Because of other people who are not like me, and let me tell you...the best advice you will ever get is to NEVER let someone else's sourness affect you. Do not let it travel. Do not let it spread. I let it spread like wildfire in my career this year, but no more.

The types of influence from others that I let seep into my heart:

• Teachers who do not try as hard as me and do not give their best effort. (Why would I let this matter to me? If I am doing it the right way, then what they do is not my problem)

• The teachers from above ^ not giving students a fair education. (Again, I cannot let this matter to me. It DOES matter and it does make me angry to see students not being educated by teachers who need their contracts to expire...but this is not my responsibility and I am only responsible for ME).

• Staff chatter and bashing about changes being made at school (all programs need change and sometimes it takes mistakes, time, and failures to master it. The change does not affect me in a negative manner. So again, it should not change my state of mind)

• Complaining from everyone. (We all get frustrated, but sometimes frustrations do not need to be said out loud. That is probably my best weapon- to choose not to verbalize my frustrations. I can think them freely, but do I need to say them out loud to another person)

• The media. (It is not the best feeling to see news about teacher's salaries and read comments from parents about how it's our fault and how we do not do enough. I do see the point because some of us don't. Again, I am not one of the lesser teachers so WHY should it bother me? It should not. That is a choice. I think better pay will come to us and it is close, but we must be patient until then)

• Myself- The big, mind-blowing problem. ME. (If everything that goes on in my room happens within my 4 walls, is planned correctly, is taught with engagement by me, and I leave loving my kids everyday...then why does it matter what goes on outside of those 4 walls. I love being a teacher and I always have until I let the sourness of others grow into my life.

I chose this career because I was absolutely sure it was what I wanted, and I will not be leaving it in the midst of it going up in flames. I will not transition to online teaching or another job just because I may have to fight the good fight. I will not move districts thinking anywhere else is perfect. I am a Ram faithfully. I will keep designing my curriculum to engage the kids within my 4 walls, I will keep loving them and being a good role model, and I will walk out of work happy because I did my part. I will have nothing to complain about because what happens in my world, what I listen to, and what I speak to life are my responsibility and only I control that.