12 days

Another school year is coming to an end, and this one, like most years, has been filled with more moments and experiences than the number of days allotted for students to be seated in the classroom.

Every year we spend half of our yearly birthdays at school, 180 days, and the questions in my mind at the end of every school year are always the same: What did we celebrate? How did our students celebrate?

I can honestly say that of the 19 years I have been in education, this one has been the most challenging, the most oppressive, the most difficult and the one where my students demonstrated the most growth, in spite of all the outside forces competing for one of those precious 180 days.

It is evident that every year we get handed down more tasks that take us away from teaching. Our administrative tasks can and often do outnumber our teaching tasks on a daily basis. On a "normal" 8 hour school day, any given teacher has the following administrative responsibilities: duty station, SOL exam proctor/examiner, department meeting, school based meetings, meetings via zoom, forms to be filled out, dress code guard and reporter, magician to deal with the lack of resources, and as of late, lanyard patrol. These tasks are above the normal of scope of: taking attendance, tracking down and reporting students who skip class, planning and delivering a lesson, assessing students, providing remediation, sponsoring clubs, answering or reading a minimum of 10 daily emails in between classes and your 25 minutes of lunch, and last but not least, dealing with the outside forces, that as we know, need no explanation. The to do list is endless.

It seems...we lose focus of our why or that it is easy to lose focus.

On my desk at school, I keep a photo where I am standing next to two dear friends who are also educators. The photo was taken at a world language conference where we presented a workshop on storytelling. The photo is a reminder of what matters, of who matters. I see it daily and find hope and inspiration, in spite of all the forces that insist on crashing any teaching day. The photo is a constant reminder that teaching, as a profession is NEVER about us; it is ALWAYS about them. Our reason for being in a classroom is not our accolades or our titles; it is always about our students.

At first sight, our journey is roughly 180 days long, but if we believe that, we ignore the simple fact that our journey never ends. We meet students for a lifetime. Our impact on their path and their impact on ours is everlasting and it should be one of deep understanding of our role in their lives.

At this point in the school year, we have 12 days left. In a way, we are walking the path the Wise men did over 2,000 years ago. Twelve days. Ninety six hours. How many of those hours are we going to take away from your students, focusing on administrative tasks? I say, let's make those 96 hours count. Talk with your students. Share information. Ask for information. Ask details. Share details. Time is running out and our classes, regardless of the subject matter, should be a space where students and teachers discover, discuss and grow together. These twelve days make a reference to a song and a celebration. So...How are you going to celebrate?

As for me, On the first day of holiday, I will ask the question: En este año escolar que está por terminar, ¿quién te ha enseñado a leer? It is possible they may not understand the question or may not have a clear answer. This is OK. In the end, I will be providing time to discover, discuss and grow together.

I wish for you a fantastic end of the school year. Celebrate EVERTHING. Remember that we have more life than time.

Bendición,

Enid López Reed