Take Another Little Piece of Heart

This is all I have ever wanted to do. Being a teacher is what makes sense for me. I cannot even picture myself doing anything else but teaching. Most little girls played house, but I played school.

The reality is simple. My heart is breaking because of the current state of public education in Oklahoma. My heart breaks not over the instruction or love of children that I see my colleagues give day in and day out. My heart breaks because of the elected officials that are making terrible decisions that affect students.

SB 1187...then amended again...then amended one more time, passed the Senate and is on the way to the House. If this does not scare you, it should. Eliminating background checks for educators, eliminating the minimum teacher pay scale, health insurance requirements....it takes away everything. If stripping away everything is what makes school districts feel empowered, I want to know what dictionary the Oklahoma legislature is getting their definition of empowerment from.

Here is the kicker...75% of students will show mastery on EOIs or entire buildings can face mass firings. So you take away everything and demand students to do more with less. It doesn't make sense.  Not to mention the fact that the legislator is dragging their feet on approving the new Oklahoma English Language Arts Standards and Math Standards. Standards that were written by Oklahoma educators, that know what is best for Oklahoma students. I have read these standards, they are great and will be great for kids. Why would we not approve these?

A little piece of my heart is taken away when such terrible decisions are made that negatively effect students. We can change this, you see we have been given this amazing thing called the right to vote. We should be aware and we should be educated on what is happening. Plus we should go out of our way to thank those elected officials that are fighting for public education in Oklahoma! Below are the links to Oklahoma House and Senate websites. Please contact your elected officials, let them know how you feel.

We have so much power. I know that I can make my broken little educator's heart whole again, even when I email or call my elected officials and I don't get a response, I know that I did the right thing. I fought for my students. That makes my heart whole.

Oh...here is some Janis Joplin