Crazy Talk

She's a teacher at my school, and she's just as cute as a button.

Whenever I see her in the hallways, she is ALWAYS smiling and VERY cheerful. And if you teach at my school, believe me, that is hard to do at the end of most days.

I arrived at school this morning and after several smiles and greeting fellow colleagues, "Good morning," I went to the mail room, and that's when I bumped into her.

We strolled out of the mail room on our way to our respective classrooms and had a little chat.

"Are you here next year?" I asked curiously.

"Of course," she replied like she would have it no other way, "I'm gonna die here."

Wow, I thought. It is so rare to hear talk like that around here. To some folks that could be crazy talk.

"This is a crazy place," she went on to say, "but these kids need some consistency, they need good people to stay here."

You see, we work at a Title I school. That means the majority of our kids are on free and reduced lunch. That means that there is not as much parental involvement as there should be. That means that most parents don't show up for conferences or events at the school. That means that a lot of our kids are parented by single moms or dads, or even grandparents. That means that some of my kids have parents who have been deported, or worse, been incarcerated. That means that our kids have a lot of needs and that means, quite frankly, that our job here as teachers is no easy feat.

This time of the year, there is a plan for what we call the "mass exodus." That means that some teachers who have been here a while are ready to move on to the next gig. That means that first year teachers have already made plans for either a new career or a move to a "better" school. That means that this school will, yet again, see lots of new teachers next year. And that means inconsistency for our kids who are already going through a tumultuous life.

I was so inspired by this teacher's comment. How come more teachers don't feel this way? I mean, what if? What if everyone felt this way? What if more teachers stayed here longer and committed more to these kids? Wouldn't this school be a better place for our kids? What if?

So her comment got me thinking. What about me? I, too, "tried" to make an exit this year. I wanted to experience what it's like to be at another school where parents are more involved, where kids don't have so much baggage, where things aren't crazy as heck sometimes, okay a lot of times.

I loved her perspective. It was refreshing, it was authentic, it was inspiring, and it was down right awesome!

It changed my perspective.

And that's no crazy talk. No sir.