on responsibility.

I’ve never been one to heavily perspire.  Aside from a die-hard dance-off and my cold, clammy hand outbreaks, I’m not one to sweat much.  But there I was.  

Scaaary. I checked out my reflection in the narrow glass window of my classroom door for a second. Realizing my once sophisticated “ballet bun” now looked like a rained-on bird’s nest and the subtle “smoky eyes” makeup I attempted that morning now looked like two black eyes.  I pondered. What was with my increasing perspiration during guided reading?  

I think I was working too hard.  I had pregnancy brain but no fetus inside me.  I was running sprints in my classroom in chunky, wedged boots.  I was on-edge.  

And how else did I know I was working, too hard?  I began to read my kids’ minds. Their thoughts went something like:

1. Why listen to the directions the first time, or read them at the top of the paper if my teacher will just tell me what to do?  
2. Why challenge my classmate to return the markers he snatched from me, when my teacher will just handle it for me?  
3. Why participate in the whole class discussion, when my teacher will help me with everything during independent work time?  

I was doing the heavy-lifting for thirty kids plus myself. Taking on your students’ responsibilities, both academically and socially can be exhausting.  Beyond the emotional toll, it enables students to depend on you for more than they should.  

Great teachers inspire.  They ask questions, spark curiosity, model thinking and problem solving and keep kids safe.  Great teachers hold kids accountable and share the workload.   

Mounds of energy could be preserved if we stop taking on what, essentially is our students’ responsibilities.  Yes, those guilt-ridden popular mantras, run through my head, too.  Whatever it takes!   No excuses, just results!  There’s also the narrative of: if you don’t do everything possible to make them learn, then you are not doing your job.  They are too young to know what’s best for them.

So when will they learn? And when will teachers stop running around like crazy people and lose the guilty-conscience of never doing enough?  Let’s start now.  We have a tough job and so do the students, therefore, by creating a culture of a balanced workload of thinking and doing, both students and teachers can grow together.  

Teachers are crusaders.  They want the best for their students-ALWAYS.  Somehow on this mission to give students our all, we forget that giving them too much of us can hinder their success in the end.  

Happy Valentine’s Day, teachers.  Spread the love, spread the responsibility, and spread the deodorant extra well today.