Teachers in urban settings face seemingly insurmountable challenges with ensuring that our children are prepared with the skills they need to take their rightful place in the future. Teaching in urban schools is more than a profession - it's a calling. And urban teachers require a unique skill set. They must repeatedly go above and beyond - in supporting students emotional needs, in teaching social skills, in providing a constant balance of intervention and acceleration, in teaching English alongside the curriculum, in supporting communities that regularly deal with poverty, violence, and underemployment, and in planning and presenting engaging lessons that meet students where they are and push them to where they can ultimately be.
Urban teachers are superheros. They have to be. They demonstrate a relentless commitment to changing the world for the most vulnerable students each and every day. Celebrating them for a day or even a week does not do their work justice. They should be celebrated each and every day.
This past week, our students celebrated our teachers and our teachers celebrated our students. There were so many amazing stories, but this one just sums up how amazing urban teachers are and have to be.
"We were doing STEAM activities in our classroom. A student came up to me and said, "if everyday was like this, you know, no learning, we'd be good all the time!" We told him that he had been learning as a scientist and an engineer all morning. He said he wanted to be a robotic engineer after today and was going to ask his mother if he could go to summer academy to keep learning. "
This is why we do what we do in urban education.
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