I am a crier. I cry easily. I think people often mistake my tears for weakness; however, I don’t think of myself as a weak person. Since the beginning of this school year, I have witnessed SO MANY colleagues cry, but I have not sat at the desk in my classroom and cried. I am not sure why I have not cried except that instead of feeling overwhelmed like many of my colleagues, their tears have fueled my passion to advocate for change in the field of education. We need to reimagine our educational systems. We need to reimagine the role teachers play within those systems. We need to reimagine how we educate the amazing human beings that will become the future of our country—of our world.
In August, I was accepted as an Associate Member of The Educator Collaborative, which is an educational Think Tank. In October, I participated in my first Think Tank meeting. Christopher Lehman, founder of The Educator Collaborative, led our first Think Tank discussion. He began by acknowledging that many of the teachers he knows are really struggling to be educators right now—feeling anxious, frustrated, overwhelmed—so they often find themselves crying. He proceeded to read the picture book Why Do We Cry? by Fran Pintadera and Ana Sender. As he was reading this beautiful picture book, most of us started crying. Then he directed us to an activity in the back of the book: “…each one [tear] is unique…If these tears could talk, what story do you think they’d tell?” We took some time to write about our tears and spent much of the remaining time sharing our stories and feelings with each other.
What a POWERFUL message Lehman sent each of us and what a gift he gave us that night—Permission to Feel! (BTW – this is also the title of an amazing book Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive by Marc Brackett, Ph.D.) He did NOT tell us to manage our work/life balance or practice self-care, which would have placed the blame for our feelings on each of us instead of on the system that is causing these feelings. He simply gave us permission to feel and provided an environment to feel seen, heard, appreciated, and valued. It certainly didn’t solve our problems, or the problems that plague the field of education, but it felt cathartic. It was a start.
Last school year, I participated, with 27,000 other teachers, in a Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence research study led by Marc Brackett. Some of the findings were reported during the TCRWP Calkins Supper Club that I attend every week. Brackett said that the study revealed that the number one thing teachers want to feel right now is appreciated. He talked about how showing appreciation begins by just giving people permission to feel. He went on to say that school leaders don’t have to have all the answers, but they do have to be authentic and can validate feelings by showing they have actively listened. Talking with teachers, not to teachers, about potential solutions is a first step for leaders as they begin to show support by acting. Brackett also explained that the perception of authentic support can have more impact on the emotions we feel than actually solving the problem(s).
His words made me reflect on another book, Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta Hammond. In the book, Hammond describes the cultural archetypes of individualism versus collectivism and how they each impact the brain. The field of education provides the best opportunities for learning and growth when it functions collectively as an inclusive community: focusing on interdependence for group success, taking care of each other to facilitate growth, learning through interaction and dialogue, and emphasizing relationship building. But the field of education, like America, is becoming increasingly individualized and polarized. The optics, the value systems talked about (diversity, equity, inclusion, social emotional learning, trauma-informed teaching, collaboration, etc.), represent a belief in the collectivism archetype; however, dig a little deeper and you will find actions that value the competitive hierarchical traits of individualism.
Hammond goes on to explain that the default setting in our brain will “avoid threats to safety at all costs and seek well-being at every opportunity” (p. 37). When our brain, which is scanning our environment and memories for possible threats 24/7, identifies any threat to our safety, it activates the “fight, flight, freeze, or appease” responses. When these responses are activated; learning, problem solving, creative thinking, and our ability to organize and self-regulate STOP. Our ability to effectively work towards collectivism is greatly diminished.
Teachers are crying because they do not feel safe. Their personal and professional well-being are being threatened on many levels. Here are just a few of the many ways teachers feel threatened and traumatized, which is in turn impacting their ability to serve students:
· Teachers, particularly classroom teachers, are being asked to comply with expectations that are literally impossible to achieve. There is simply not enough time in the day or week(end). Teachers are essentially working two full-time jobs: one full-time job working with students (actual contact hours) and one full-time job working during planning times, lunches, mornings, evenings, and weekends—meetings, lesson planning, grading, collaborating, and more. Teachers are exhausted.
· Despite being in a pandemic, schools are trying to return to “normal.” This year educators are expected, and being evaluated on their ability, to accomplish more than in a “normal” school year—to accelerate learning closing the “learning loss” gap that has occurred during the pandemic. To be clear, “learning loss” is a false narrative.
· In an attempt to close the “learning loss” gap and improve standardized test scores, teachers are directed to learn new curriculum, programs, and technology. To accomplish this goal, educators are further directed to participate in a barrage of professional development. To repeat, learning cannot occur when the brain is feeling overwhelmed, threatened, or traumatized.
· Teachers are responsible for ensuring that ALL students are seen, heard, and valued in the classroom. The passage of racist anti-Critical Race Theory laws coupled with the violence that has escalated over what educators are, and are not, teaching regarding the history of our country has compromised the ability of teachers to create an inclusive classroom. The “truths” about history need to be viewed and understood from ALL perspectives. That said, not all perspectives warrant the same time and weight. (For example, there are not two sides to the holocaust or slavery.) History, like a good story, should make us feel a wide range of emotions (we need to give students permission to feel all of those emotions), which drive us to act in order to create a better future.
· Staffing shortages have created the expectation that teachers will not only fulfill their primary jobs but also help fill-in for missing staff members. In addition, districts have increased the number of involuntary transfers from one grade-level or position to another (which means more new things to learn). Both circumstances are often perceived by educators as punitive in nature. It takes several years to develop a deep understanding of grade-level curriculum and differentiate to meet the needs of students, so these situations only serve to further traumatize teachers and inhibit their ability to help students learn and grow.
· Many early career teachers have not had the opportunity to teach during a “normal” school year. Despite attempts to support early career teachers with mentors and professional development, they are overwhelmed and in survival mode—many will probably leave the profession after this year (while more experienced teachers are making plans to retire).
· Lack of trust—from parents, to administrators, to school boards, and the public. Despite being degreed professionals in the trenches, teachers are being left out of the decision-making process, micromanaged, and evaluated on every level. It is estimated that teachers make 1,500+ decisions a day. Decisions that are repeatedly being second guessed and/or evaluated means teachers are not granted the professional respect and autonomy they deserve.
· Students are coming to school with their own trauma, often presenting as behavior issues—some extreme in nature. This problem is exacerbated by any lack of student accountability or proper support for the trauma. (NOTE: restorative justice is NOT an administrator talking to a student for a few minutes and sending them back to class.)
· COVID, gun violence, polarized angry parents, and so much more.
Group emails referring to us as heroes and providing staff treats are nice but do not provide educators with authentic support, instead they further perpetuate the perception that there is a lack of respect and appreciation. As I thought about so many of my colleagues struggling every day, crying every day, I wanted to PAY IT FORWARD—to share a beautiful picture book about the power of our tears and give others Permission to Feel! If you do not own the book, Why Do We Cry? By Fran Pintadera and Ana Sender, I highly recommend getting a copy to read and reread—and engage in a good cry!
During our Think Tank meeting when we were writing about our tears, I vividly remembered the last year of my doctoral program—I was TOTALLY exhausted, and I cried A LOT! One of our last classes was on how to design professional development and deliver different types of presentations. A member of my cohort, a dear friend—Dr. Julie Hoffman, wrote her keynote on the power of tears (which was SO timely for all of us in the cohort). She said, “that our tears make us WARRIORS!” It became our mantra during the last difficult months of our doctoral program. Your tears make you a warrior! Strong and courageous. To all the educators out there feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and unsafe, fight for your right to feel the full range of your emotions. Fight for your right to once again cry tears of JOY! Being a teacher, curiously exploring the world and learning alongside of our students, should feel JOYFUL! Know that on some level—you are seen, heard, appreciated, and valued. YOU MATTER!
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