Equity Focused | Inquiry Driven | Problem-Based-Learning | Transformational Leadership

*Trigger Warning: This post discusses gun violence in schools.

Teacher is a special brand of human.

I remember the exact day and moment when I was in high school and I decided I wanted to be a teacher; when I decided I wanted to impact kids and make a difference.

I was so naive.

I had no idea what being a teacher really meant. What sacrifice it took. What emotional strain it would have on my relationships. What drain of physical and emotional energy it would cost. What stress would be endured. What tears would be shed. What laughter would be had. What immeasureable joy and fulfillment it would bring.

Taylor Mali’s, “What Teacher’s Make” may be the best way to sum up the job of a teacher in three minutes and fifteen seconds that has ever and will ever exist, and it still doesn’t fully expose the energy and dedication of those hours inside and outside of a classroom. His poetry slam is too often reality. People think of a teacher and, amidst the memories of their favorite one from elementary school, they often associate the idea of a teacher with summers off, 3pm dismissal bells, and a provided curriculum and textbook – all of which are glossy images not aligned to a teacher’s reality.

When people think of a teacher they often don’t think about what else is involved in this job.

They don’t think about the days where children come to school heartbroken over something that happened at home or with their friends and the lengths a teacher will go to comfort, support, and educate that child and the twenty-four (or in many underserved schools, thirty-six) others that are sitting in the seats in their classroom. They don’t think about the afternoon dismissal when students have spread a rumor that there is going to be a fight and the teacher walks the students all the way to their front doors to ensure they are safe. And they certainly don’t think about how every morning, when a teacher walks onto their campus, not only are they preparing to educate those children sitting in the chairs in their classrooms; they are preparing themselves to protect their students in whatever way they have to. They are mentally and emotionally preparing themselves to stand in front of a shooter with a gun aimed at their chest to protect the children hiding behind them if that’s what happens in their day.

School shootings have become a reality – a daily, and perpetual fear. The sight of a person on campus that you don’t recognize brings terror. Every knock on your classroom door quickens your heart. Every day that I have walked onto a school campus in the last decade, I have known that I have to be prepared to sacrifice for my students. It’s a solemn truth.

It’s not a gun problem. It’s a public health crisis.

Any shooting is tragic. It’s tragic because of the lives lost. It’s tragic because of the lives forever scarred. And it’s tragic because the shooter, in so many cases were so angry and hurt that they felt like they had no retribution other than to shoot the people they once walked the halls with and learned U.S. History from. It’s tragic because that shooter was able to buy that gun.

In school shootings, beloved teachers and leaders and promising young students are lost in senseless acts that started with a moment of crisis and were made reality because of access to a weapon. And each educator that has been lost started that day fully cognizant that they would do whatever they could to protect their students in whatever their day brought them, and those students started that day knowing their teachers had their backs.

Eighty percent of Americans believe in common sense gun laws. Many across social media are crying for higher levels of security at schools. Many are petitioning for tighter gun legislation. Teachers continue to talk about taking their sick time and protesting. Students continue to plan walk-outs and protests and rally behind each other. Celebrities continue to fund national events.

Because today’s youth are recognizing that their voices, young and unedited and brazenly and ferociously bold are POWERFUL when united and FEARSOME in their collective cries to stand up and change this world.