Just Say... NO!

 "Do you want to be on this committee for literacy?" 

"My child needs more of a challenge, can you please assign more homework?"

"I'm assigning this amazing instructional facilitator to help you teach math. Please make sure your room is ready tomorrow for a preview."

"You have to sign up for this training and I want you to lead discussions at the team meeting."

Any of these sound familiar? Requests....they are from our students, from our parents, from our colleagues, from our administration. We have so many requests in one day and God knows how many in one week! It can be overwhelming and many teachers find it hard to say, "NO." Why do we constantly do this to ourselves? Why do we take on more than we can handle? Why do we feel obligated to volunteer for the after school program? Why do we feel pressure to stay at school until 6:00 or 8:00 in the evening working away at lesson plans, grading or researching the next best lesson on "Teachers Pay Teachers."

I'll tell you why...it's because we are women. Today is International Woman's Day. We honor women in these noble, high profile careers: lawyers, doctors, scientists, engineers. This is definitely wonderful and recognition of these women is essential. But, how about the women that are in jobs that nurture and help the world grow? The majority of teachers are women. We take on so much every day. We are counselors, doctors, activitists, problem solvers in addition to teaching a curriculum. We listen to 20-25 little people every day, which can add up to over 100 conversations. We do A LOT, but it is never recognized in the way we wish it would be. It has never been recognized because this country takes teachers for granted because of the fact that the majority are women, therefore, they know we will do anything to nurture that little curious mind. I hope we have a march someday where we no longer put up with this self diminishing behavior that exploits our care and abuses our inner selves.

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