A couple of weeks ago I missed a meeting at school. It was one of four meetings I had for various groups I’m a part of. It’s that chaotic part of the year where everything is flying at teachers at once and many of us are trying to just stay afloat. It’s always challenging, but we’ll find ways to get through and start cruising along later in the year.
I know a lot of teachers are feeling this right now. They are feeling the pressure to constantly stay on top of schedules, grading, family lives, meetings, curriculum, and expectations. Everyone is posting reassuring memes on social media to support each other and reminding each other that you don’t need to be perfect, you can’t do it all.
I 100% agree with all of this. Teachers are bombarded with tasks to tackle and things to balance. Every once in awhile things will fall through the cracks, and we need to give one another some grace and respect.
This is where I get on my soapbox. There are teachers who share all of this and then go back to their classrooms and deny their own students that same respect and grace. How in the world can you ask for help filling out your professional development points at the last minute because you didn’t keep up with it all year like you should have (this was me this year) or show up 10 minutes late to a meeting with administrators (also me) because you didn’t understand the new schedule and then count students off for turning in late work (fortunately not me). Or you criticize students who wait until the last second to finish a project but turn an important document to administrators seconds before it’s due.
“We could all use a little reminder that kids have chaotic lives just like we all do.”
We are adults who have control over the majority of our day and yet we are asking developing minds to be more organized, more thoughtful and more together than we are on any given day.
Please don’t read too much into this. I work with amazing colleagues. I’m not trying to call out any one person. I’m just pointing out a trend in education where we hold students to a higher standard than we hold ourselves.
I just think we could all use a little reminder that kids have chaotic lives just like we all do. They could all benefit from a little grace.
