Why am I up writing at 5AM? Because I can't sleep. Why not? Because my head is spinning with thoughts of the divisions in our district. Experienced veteran v. novice teachers, "Reform" v. "traditional", education majors v. alternatively certified teachers, out of towners v. locals, etc. I get it. I'm from here. I was a student here. My parents were DISD students. My grandmother was a DISD teacher for decades. What I don't understand is the chaos.
If we are focused on our kids, why are we fighting? Why aren't we trying harder to find common ground? Our kids are the ones who will be hurt, not us. If we get angry enough as teachers, we can go somewhere else. More experienced educators will probably yell at me for saying that, and for good reason. Nobody who has dedicated their life to DISD should have to be so frustrated that they leave. I agree, but our kids simply don't have that choice. Not wanting to and not being able to are two very different things. We need to come together now more than ever for our kids.
How? We can start by not yelling so much and starting to listen.