"Go back to work, bitch!"***
Not the most encouraging thing to hear as I'm wearing a sign around my neck at 6:45 in the morning, jumping up and down in the median of Stony Island. The man brings up a good point though. Why don't I go back to work?
Firstly, I should say that there weren't any students... so I literally couldn't go to work. Secondly, I absolutely believe in everything that we are striking for. I believe in capping class sizes. I believe in treating teachers like professionals and negotiating a fair contract in good faith. I believe in making the school day BETTER, not just longer. I believe in hiring more social service support personnel at a time when violence in Chicago is skyrocketing. I believe in supporting the equity of the school environments, in standing up and saying that it isn't fair to rate teachers on an equal system and with test scores when their educational environments are vastly different. I believe in having air conditioning and school supplies and curriculum in EVERY school in the year 2012. I believe that you shouldn't get the shaft when it comes to a school because you were born in the wrong neighborhood or skin color or ethnicity. I believe in standing up and saying that this system is broken, and I believe in standing up and saying that it is NOT my fault.
Teachers say this all the time, and it is true. Regardless of how much we get paid, how many prep hours we get, how great our health benefits are... we work for it. Don't tell me to go back to work when I spent a combined 14 hours of my weekend planning learning activities for your kids. Don't tell me to go back to work when I spent my own money to make sure the classroom was ready for your kids. Don't tell me to go back to work when I am going to get graded on your child's test scores, regardless of the home environment they are living in, or the educational background they are dumped in my lap with. Don't tell me to go back to work when I am working without a contract. Don't tell me to go back to work when the board is telling me that I should be able to teach my subjects to mastery, to ALL of the students that they feel like cramming into my classroom. Don't tell me to go back to work when it is over 90 degrees in there on some days, and if I worked at a different school it would be a comfortable 73. Don't tell me to go back to work when I don't have curriculum for your kids, and they are the ones who get an overworked and stressed out teacher every day. Don't tell me to go back to work when I haven't slept a night in the last 5 weeks without dreaming about my classroom or your student. Don't tell me to go back to work when I live, breath, AM a teacher... 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I AM WORKING.
That's why I'm on the line. I'm on the line because I care about your kids. I'm on the line because I believe in equitable education. I'm on the line because being a part of something big is important. I'm on the line because we NEED people on that line.
Pictures to come!
***For every negative comment or signal we got this morning, there were about a hundred honks and thumbs-up and raised fists. This city is behind us, and that feels GOOOOOOD.
You take 7 grand a month out of the schools' budget. That's why your classroom is a pigpen.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot teach poor people in a hi-class environment and earn a hi-class wage. It's one or the other and you all fight harder for high wages.
Teachers, learn to accept that you can't afford an iPad- Bigscreen-Big house-Big benefits-and a nice classroom. You are being paid by by poor people- so expect to live like you're poor.
And honestly it seems like you believe you're the only ones who eat sleep and breathe their work. Newsflash: that's everybody. And everybody else doesn't have the things that your union takes for granted.
Your foolishness should not have come as a surprise- I suppose. You are someone who calls their blog bread and roses and surely has no idea how to garden or to farm.
ReplyDeleteBread and roses for someone who teaches reading writing and arithmetic is laughable as none of those skills increase the marginal production of bread or roses.
Your Air Conditioner is not made by Santa's elves. A/C along with every other thing your union demands is extremely hard on the budget because your budget receives funding from poor people. You must accept either lower wages or poorer conditions.