Teacher heading to retirement in the Anthropocene

At the annual Truman dinner for the Kane county Democrats there were speeches denouncing Trump’s fascist agenda and the purposeful and thoughtless dismantling of the government. We must stand together and people need to participate in our democracy as it is being lost.

August 17, 2023    What truly is the focus of teaching?     As a veteran teacher I find myself knowledgable in my content and proficient in iuiucreating relationships with students. I truly enjoy being around my students and sharing what I know about zoology and environmental science. More than that I am also teaching them empathy for the world and themselves, how to be young adults, and ways to help them in their lives once they leave my classroom. These things I job take pride in and as a Mom I use my Mom voice and sense of caring for them should they need some Mom advice.     Each year the administration gives more responsibilities to teachers and ridiculous programs to use that are not transferable from year to year meaning I have to redo my teacher pages each year. This year I also am required to participate in a PLC with three other teachers. One of them is a newer teacher who is pandered to by my supervisor who is also part o...

Talking to fellow teachers about the Sunday dread last week a bunch of us shared how anxious we get on Sunday knowing that work is on Monday. Teacher burnout began within the first month of school due to weekly increasing demands in an environment where students are less and less prepared each week for school success and life. Social media and cell phone addiction instead of self interest in self improvement and learning for curiosity are a couple of many symptoms of the attention deficit prevalent in students at the high school level. The ones being punished are the young people who are part of a social experiment where they grew up having phones put in their hands from toddler hood trying to be like parents raised with cell phones and the false magic of technology to make people smarter. Rich men get richer at the expense of generations of lost intellect.