Every job is stressful. We dedicate our time, energy, and years of life to not only put food on the table, but also to hopefully accomplish something that is more than ourselves. We want a legacy communicating to ourselves and others, that all of our sacrifice and stress was worth it in the end.
Every profession has a different vibe or understanding when it comes to moving up the ladder of success. For example, in the business world it may come with a sweet office, company car, and a hell of a lot more zeros at the end of your paycheck. In the teacher world it may involve a pat on the back, mention in a newsletter, or if you are really lucky a bronze plaque hung somewhere no one will see. (Sidenote, by the time that plaque is hung the recipient is long gone from teaching, as well as many of the people who can identify them by name).
As one may deduce, the life of an educator is far from glamorous. So, to cope, many educators must feed themselves a diet of mental garbage to endure their woes during their treacherous journey of endless contributions to the future of tomorrow.
Here are some of the lies I have consistently fed myself over the last two decades. See if any of them resonate with you.
Lie #1: Teaching is the hardest jobs on the planet.
False! We are not alone in the line of difficult, gut-wrenching jobs. We are not the only profession to hold children who have seen unimaginable wrongs. We are not the only professionals to get up, give everything they have for the service of others, only to be spat on by the community they serve. We are also not the only profession to be used as political folly as people who have never held our position try to single handedly make decisions for what is best. There are many jobs that require more than what is humanly possible for meager means and low appreciation. Does this make it right… NO! It just means we are in company with millions of other workers who fight to make a difference, without support. There will always be the few that get rich doing seemingly nothing for the common good. That lifestyle will always look good from the exhausted, overworked lens of someone just getting by. Hang on to your integrity folks. Your job is hard because it is important and because this world could not exist completely without it.
Swap out the lie: Education is a difficult field and takes a human with immense intelligence, compassion, resilience, patience, and drive. You are those things!
Lie #2: Forget what I need, students first.
FALSE! Now before you begin thinking that every educator is evil, hit the pause button and reflect on humanity a bit. Yes, every decision we consider in education is centered on students first. However, we also must think of the mental health of the educators that place themselves in front of students. Teaching and leading teachers is a job that is not for the weak of heart. It requires you to be selfless, vulnerable yet strong, all knowing but always willing to learn, and always humble but confident in all you do. Let us not forget that while we manage all those unwritten expectations, we should always remain free of fatigue, judgment, or want. Yes, you must be everything without asking for anything. If that sounds like bullshit, that is because it is. Educators have had to hold up the guise of being perfect and without feelings for so long we have lost our gumption to advocate for conditions that make us better humans for the humans we serve. It is not all about our students. It is all about cultivating conditions where adults feel they can safely explore their craft, express their passion, and fulfill their purpose of making students lovers of learning.
Swap out the lie: It is about kids so take care of yourself for them. Love yourself enough to ensure you are healthy for everyone in your life. Don’t apologize for advocating for yourself and don’t dare open that door to shame.
Lie #3: Teachers should sacrifice for the love of children.
False! It is the leverage tool that every educator has felt every day of every year they have ever served. I grew up Catholic and there was always this phrase that would get thrown around: “Catholic guilt”. There is a guilt that is thrown around in the educational world that if you do not do something or if you ask for compensation, you do not care about kids. YES, we care about children. However, we also want to be treated and paid like professionals. I can set limits and request to be compensated for my time and still LOVE kids. “Do it for the kids” is a tone def response that translates to educators as “Give me everything you got for next to nothing and don’t complain about it.” No one that I have ever met in education is motivated by money. Rather they have all very much been motivated by children, WHILE trying to raise, maintain, and flourish their own families in a financially stable manner.
Swap out the lie: Sacrifice is required in every profession in order to go from good to great. However, sacrifice the right things. Sacrifice: guilt, shame, fear, and martyrdom. When we let go of those things and let in curiosity, courage, limit setting, and passion we can get back to the best versions of ourselves.
Lie #4: There is nothing I can do to make a difference.
False! This is perhaps the most dismal part of my reality. I have seen so many educators feel like the cards are stacked against them, so much so that they have lost hope in their ability to make a difference. They feel like they do not have the respect of the communities they serve, cannot set behavior limits for students, cannot make decisions without an abundance of red tape, and cannot offer feedback on student progress and effort without the fear of retaliation. Simply stated, teachers feel paralyzed. They are frozen in a period of time when going through the motions and remaining benign keeps them safe, even if their students are not engaged and misbehaved. As an educational community we all know we need to do something different, but until we have real conversations, truly support one another, and get behind one another as a united catalyst for change we will remain frozen.
Swap out the lie: Throw away your apathy and hopelessness. You may not realize it, but people other than your students need you. Your colleagues need your laughs, trust, ideas, and support. We are truly in this together and without you we are not as strong as we could be. You, just like every employee in your district, is the missing link to a better outcome for kids while maintaining a healthy work environment for adults. Your gifts are our gifts.
Lie #5: Teaching is just a job.
False! This one is the most difficult for me to digest. There is something about public servants that causes them to equate who they are with what they do. How many times have you been out at a party, or at any event in the community for that matter and started a sentence with the phrase “I’m a teacher”. We can’t help it! We have interwoven who we are with what we love to do. I believe we have also connected our self-worth to our success in our profession. Truth is my educator friends; it is not JUST a job. We are driven to serve. What we do is a purpose that at times may bring sheer fulfillment and at other times it is the heaviness of a ball and chain that drags us down. For every teacher who is buying materials out of pocket, creating lessons, and grading at home, or jumping into the discomfort of learning something new for your classroom, hear me say this: IF IT WAS JUST A JOB YOU WOULDN’T CARE. Your heart would not break when you see a student not thriving. Your blood pressure wouldn’t spike when you students do not make the gains you hoped for. Your mind wouldn’t be racing all hours of the night trying to problem solve ways to make your classroom a learning community. The reality is that even though teaching yields a paycheck, we will always find ourselves fighting for outcomes and ideas to support students. As long as there’s breath in our lungs, teaching will never be just a job. It will always be an opportunity where every teacher during their moment of strength whispers, “Today was good, but what will make tomorrow great?”
Swap out the lie: It is true that teaching is what we do, not who we are. However, it is okay to care immensely about the gravity that this job can offer to students, families, and communities. It is not a clock in and clock out job no matter how much we wish it was. We will our minds into thinking we do not care so we can avoid the pain this job causes when our hearts get bigger than our capabilities to make the amount of change, we want to see in our students.
So, if you are an educator get out your scissors and cut the bullshit. Swap out those lies you survive on with a healthier mindset for you to thrive on. This is not just a job! Teaching is a universe that requires the superpowers of dedication, persistence, empathy, resilience, flexibility, compassion, intelligence, curiosity, ingenuity, integrity, patience, and “stuff” that cannot be put into words. You are all those things. So, pull back your hair, pour that extra cup of coffee, and allow yourself the grace to love you, be you, and make a damn difference!
Awake & Accelerate 