When life gives you lemons...

 You do something else

I spent a long time thinking about how I would talk about the big change I made in my life. I started this blog during Covid as a way to keep myself busy and share my love of reading and my love for teaching. Only one of those things has survived. This was meant to be a blog for teachers by a teacher. 

There are so many books out there that students beg to read. How can we know if the book we put into their hands will land you in hot water? You research! That is where the problems come in. So many websites don't address age recommendations or triggers that might be found in a book. My aim was to discuss the book and the possible applications it would have in the classroom. Not only that, but I also wanted to help other English teachers as they wade through this weird world of teaching post-COVID. 

If you are a person in the education field, it is not odd to hear others say that the landscape of teaching has completely changed. I was in education for 7 short years. For most seasoned educators, they would laugh and tell me that I had experienced nothing but a blip. However, any young teacher who lived through COVID-19 can tell you that these years were nothing even remotely normal. Students are quick to anger and have no real concept of the impact their actions/ behaviors are having on school culture. Students are not afraid to destroy a teacher's career over bad grades or disciplinary actions. If you know, you know. 

This was a lot of what happened to me. Bad grades resulted in children turning to their parents to fight their battles. This was many a trip where I had to sit there and validate each grade a student received. I was exhausted after doing this nearly every week for a different child. I began dreading going to work because I was waiting for the next call down to the principal's office. I was spending 60-80 hours a week. I know that sounds crazy, but when you are working on things from your waking moment until you nearly fall asleep at the table grading papers, that is what your work week looks like. 

(As you can tell, I recently started watching Schitt's Creek.)

The shortened version of this tale is that I decided for my own mental health and the health of my family that I would no longer be teaching. There is so much wrong with the education field in America and until some of that is fixed, schools will continue to lose teachers. I still love teaching and my students. However, I could not sacrifice myself for a job. 

Finally, I will still be working on this blog. I love sharing about the books I read and how they could be used in the classroom. I hope that you enjoy these posts and continue to read along.