Learning to Hope After 28 Years+ of Experience
By Barb Edler

In our classrooms 

We learn

Grace and empathy

Kindness and virtue

Possibilities and persistence

In our classrooms

We develop

Relationships and individuals

New languages; experience

A welcoming bravery

In our classrooms

We breathe

Giving our all

For students; undermined

By public policy

In our classrooms

We cry

Leaning that it’s

Never easy work

Loving and learning

I, Teacher
By Allison Berryhill

I learned

I am not

I have not yet

I am no good

I am overwhelmed

I needed kindness

I live in hope

I am able

I know more than

I did yesterday

I knew 

I know

I needed kindness

Contributors:

• Take a breath, I am no good to them if I am overwhelmed.
• Brain breaks don’t need to be academic.
• Persistence is necessary.
• I learned that I am not meant to care more and work harder than my students; teaching works better when I am able to get my student to care more and work harder.
• A great principal is a shield of armor protecting you from outside forces who may interfere with your main purpose.
• I know more today than I did yesterday
• I learned new language choices to welcome my non-binary students
• Relationships are the crux of our work. Empathy, grace, and care are more important now than ever.
• Being brave causes discomfort; get used to sitting in it.
• We are experts regardless of how many ways we’re undermined with public policy.
• I learned to let go of rigid expectations that came from outdated pedagogy. I learned to see the students as individuals with as much complexity as the characters we study. I learned to be kind when kindness was all I had left to give. I learned that I needed kindness more than I knew when the going got rougher than I ever knew possible.
• I learned that patience is a virtue I have not yet developed despite 28 years of experience trying. Or is it 28 years of trying experiences? I live in hope of future patience developments.