I usually watch Gerry Brooks so I can relax and laugh at his jokes. But yesterday, he wore a serious face and just showed a bunch of handwritten poster boards. He was quiet and somber and yet it was very powerful. He just want to be respected.
Sometimes it’s hard-really hard!
In just 18 hours (as of this writing) there were 2,818 FB comments and 2.5M views in Facebook and 3,855 in Youtube. Gerry titled his post Sometimes it’s hard-really hard! and it echoed and reached a lot of teachers. In the end, everyone agreed that teachers just want to be respected - #RespectEducators.
Storm Brewing
I do not know if decision makers are aware of the growing discontent of educators like Gerry. Here are the latest posts about what are happening to teachers:
From Washington Post - Low Pay Big Classes
From USA Today - Teacher Strikes all Over the Country
American Federation of Teachers 2017 Survey - Teachers are Stressed Out
The Hill - Kentucky Teachers’ Strike Closes Schools Across the State
#RespectEducators
Teacher discontent is more than salaries and benefits. It is doing all the hard work of educating and nurturing children then being disrespected from all fronts: administrators, parents and everyone else. Do you want to keep good teachers in school? #RespectEducators. Treat teachers as the heroes they are. Uplift them. Help them. Fund them. If you want to support teachers here are a bunch of shirts from Amazon that you can wear or give to your favorite teachers, principals, related service providers and other school staff.
