all in a day's work

If you hated school because you'd rather be kicking it at home, you were pretty fortunate, at least in one sense.

Even though my workplace does not have a fraction of Kamaile's homeless population, we still see a lot of kids who find relief at school. Relief from family issues, violence, varying levels of neglect and abuse. Knowing that kids look to you to be stabler, kinder, gentler, firmer, and/or smarter than some of the adults at home gives this job significance so far beyond test scores that sometimes I wonder how we can bog them down with facts and figures when they don't have skills as fundamental as how to treat each other. "That's their parents' job" - common reasoning, and true, but when they won't/don't/can't, who has to act in loco parentis? Teachers. Not 'has to' as in 'Oh damnit, more work for me,' but 'has to' as in 'This is what I chose.'

The real meaning of 'no child left behind' cannot be measured with a #2 pencil. Thank God we're not restructuring because if I had people in my classroom telling me there's no place for a wall map of the world, or, God forbid, character education and all its teachable moments, I'd probably punch them.

Speaking of role models, that's our girl!