Shut Up and Listen! I'm an Educator.

There are a lot of opinions freely flying around about teachers returning to face-to-face instruction. I’ve heard some really terrible things, and while I like to think that people respect Educators and the work they do, my thoughts have been harshly erased.

I am an Educator. I have been an Educator for 16 years and counting. I absolutely love what I do. I went to school to be an Educator. It is what I am supposed to be doing, and while this profession is physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically damaging (none of which they tell you while obtaining teaching credentials), I willing do it. All Educators willing do it. We put the health and well-being of our students before our very own. Yeah, sounds crazy, because who would go to work every day to be physically and verbally assaulted? Sometimes by the same person because no one is removing them from your class. Deal with it! Do your job!…You guys should really have a conversation with a teacher.

Now that the world has been completely turned upside down, it is somehow teachers’ responsibility to put it back together? Seriously! You actually think that putting 30+ kids in a room carrying every germ known to man for 8 hours a day in the middle of a pandemic is going to fix this mess? Yeah, I know all about how opening schools will "

jump start" the economy, and “the kids will be fine. They’ll only have mild symptoms.” What happens when those mild symptoms kill a teacher? Or if a student contracts said “mild symptoms” from being at school with thousands of kids who have been in contact with countless other people, and take said “mild symptoms” home to mom, dad, grandma and grandpa who can’t fight them off? How’s that theory of jump starting the economy looking now? It is not my job or the job of any Educator to “jump start the economy.” That, my friend, is a government problem and besides, teachers can’t jump start anything if they’re dead…just saying.

Then, there’s one of my favorite remarks…”you don’t see Healthcare professionals and front-line workers complaining about doing their jobs. Do you think they want to risk their lives every day?” Why yes! Yes, I do think that! See, they went to school to receive training to SAVE LIVES. They are the epitome of what “risking their lives to do their job” looks like. And if these outstanding human

beings are begging for people to STAY HOME so that they can “do their jobs” most effectively, why are you so pressed to send your kids to school, the world’s cesspool of germs? Oh yeah, because they need social interaction and to be normal. Screw it if people die!

Thank you for caring.

There is nothing normal about the current state of the

world. Returning to face-to-face instruction will not be "normal". School will not be "normal". There are things that we are going to have to do that are wholly uncomfortable and totally different and in no way, shape, form or fashion normal, but we have to do them to get past this. We all want to “get back to normal” even teachers! In all honesty, we want to be in our classrooms with our students because as much as it is tiring it is rewarding. But the truth is, we can teach virtually. We can “do our jobs” the actual jobs that we went to school to be able to do, virtually. And I know you're not a teacher! No one is asking to you to be! It's not like teachers are asking you to parent their kids so that they can teach yours. Because what teacher has kids of their own that they have to manage while virtually managing yours? Crazy thought that was! I know you hate this. It's okay! Stop whining, and do your job as a human being! Keep your kids at home! We'll take care of the educating!

For the first time in 16 years, I do not have to spend thousands of additional dollars buying supplies, food, and clothing for children who don’t live in my home. I work for a school district that has figured out how to do all of this virtually! I am compelled to spend my own little money to make sure my students have the things they need. My school district is providing meals (3 a day), laptops and wireless hot spots for EVERY child we serve...did you see I said providing? It's free to the students and families we serve. I teach for Atlanta Public Schools...that's a lot of families. They figured it out. Smart people those Educators.

This school year, I can focus on myself, and my own family's well-being. While the thoughts of my students are always with me, they will not for the first time in 16 years consume me. I can be whole for the people who matter most to me. All I have to do this school year is teach. You know, "do my job."

~The Fit Mom