She taught in the classroom.
And she taught in our house.
Reading textbooks of science,
And piano scales that I finally figured out
She read Dr. Seuss and scary ghost stories.
She listened to our problems,
and always helped us out.
She was a mother and a wife.
She was a teacher to many,
She sat at her desk or walked all about;
Giving kids experiments and challenges,
And always trying to get them to try new things out.
Now, she loved what she did,
But it was awfully hard getting the treatment she got.
From a pay scale that never moved, unless to go backward,
On social media platforms.
To bite her tongue and go on teaching,
Because that's what teachers do,
Keep a good face and keep up the paces.
But you see it is quite hard,
When the school doesn’t have the funding,
But the testing keeps raising its bar.
Didn't you know? This economy is hard!
And what does she do for all of the slack?
Finds ways to teach without the text,
Googling standard lessons that will be practical for the test,
Games that will keep kids engaged.
For it is solely her fault if they don't make the grade!
She also leads in children’s coaching,
A school garden she plants.
Does the school pay for that?
A lot of cash out from her pockets
"In the name of the children!",
because, it is for them after all.
Now, this is just one story, out of very very many.
For when the community doesn’t care,
what their teachers are getting.
And they see those teachers as free babysitting,
Then tensions get tightened, and the frayed rope seems close to breaking.
Now maybe it seems too far, the things they are planning.
‘Get over it, taxes being heightened puts stress on my back!’
Perhaps that is what you are thinking.
But I want you to sit, and I want you to ponder.
Wasn’t there a teacher, that made growing up less scary?
Less terrifying? Made learning more baring?
And if you were in their shoes wouldn’t you want decent pay, decent funding,
So you wouldn’t have to work a state away?
Now don’t get up, don’t think I am done.
Because if you still think they should get over the rut, just think of 'your' little
If our teachers aren’t getting what they need to survive,
Your 8 to 3 block may be getting a little more occupied.
