“Belief is a virus, and once it gets into you, its first order of business is to preserve itself, and the way it preserves itself is to keep you from having any doubts, and the way it keeps you from doubting is to blind you to the way things really are. Evidence contrary to the belief can be staring you straight in the face, and you won’t see it… True believers just don’t see things the way they are, because if they did, they wouldn’t be true believers anymore.”
― Acts of Faith
My wife, a fifth-grade teacher, and I sat on the couch the other night, half watching a show on HGTV. “You know,” she started, her voice tinged with sadness, “In another two months it’ll be a year. A year since I’ve been in my classroom. A year since I’ve spent time with my precious students.”
I said nothing and we continued watching in silence. What could I say? What was there to say? Her sadness was palpable and I no words to ease that sorrow.
For nearly a year, I’ve watched her struggle. Struggle to provide instruction through an unfamiliar vehicle? Struggle to master technology to better serve her students. Struggle over concerns for the well being of her students. Struggle with teaching a class to a screen filled with outdated pictures, because many students don’t turn on their cameras? Struggle with not seeing her parents, because they are older and highly at risk. Struggle to try and stay on top of her own children’s education, while trying to meet the needs of the students in her class. Struggle to try and meet the socio-economic needs of her students, many from families that live in poverty, despite lacking the ability or training to meet all of their needs. In short. Struggles that face all teachers to varying degrees.
Yet every day, she gets up and plunges in again. Teaching classes all day from the makeshift workspace created behind the door of our bedroom. Nights are filled with phone calls to teammates to plot strategies or to help each other navigate ever-shifting direction from building administrators who are struggling themselves. All in an effort to serve students in an unprecedented time. Everybody pulling together, brushing off the disappointments and heartaches to get it right tomorrow.
Despite the popular narrative, it hasn’t been all failure. There has been a lot of success along this difficult route. Technology skills for students have grown at an exponential rate. Many kids are CONTINUE READING: QUESTIONABLE ASSERTIONS – Dad Gone Wild
