Of all the resources on teachers being community members, I found the most valuable to be the Communities in Schools group. This group has a focus of “Changing the lives of 1.3 million students” and doesn’t accept the answer that it’s not possible to save every child. The Communities in Schools website has many different stories of children who’s lives were completely turned around by the influence of their teachers. The stories range from parents with addictions, to students with criminal behaviors. However, in some way, maybe with the smallest first step, a teacher was able to make a connection with these students and completely change their life. Before the work of the teacher, these students were looking everything from dropping out of school to jail time.
What made the difference? What completely changed their lives from dropouts to graduates? Teachers. Teachers who decided that their jobs didn’t end with the bell ringing after the final block of the day, and teachers who decided that their job gave them more power and responsibility than just pass out worksheets and notes. This is that awesome power that teachers have. Each and everyday, teachers are lucky to be in the position to truly make a difference in the world and have a positive impact on the lives that sit in their classrooms.
This is one example of how teachers can be community leaders. Being a community leader might not always have the formal titles or fancy offices. Every time teachers go beyond simply explaining the subject matter, they are improving the community. This is quite different than the typical notion of what a community leader might look like, but how can the influence of teachers helping to better the lives of their students be overlooked? From this perspective, educators really are community leaders in that they are helping to shape the lives of all in the community. Is it possible to teach the subject matter while also not making a connection to the students? Going the extra step and possibly being the only person who might listen to the complex lives of our students might be the difference in the high school dropout and a college graduate.
So, what to go from here? Being a teacher may mean that you have to wakeup every morning and put on a suit. Does this suit have to be the one that a community leader wears while sitting in a fancy office, with an equally fancy job title enscrolled on the door outside? It could be and it’s great when it does. However, it simply doesn’t have to be. Some of our students are going through problems that we will never see or understand. Some of our students may be wishing for a magical superhero to come and save them from the disaster of their world. Who will be there and what suit will they be wearing? The suit teachers wear may not come with a cape, but it may be just the uniform required to help students see the light at the end of the tunnel and help them through a villain-like problem they are dealing with. You may not be Superman or Superwoman, but you might have just enough power to get the job done.
Thanks
"I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." --Thomas Jefferson
I encourage you to really look through these student’s stories and how their lives were completely turned around.
Success Stories:
Jamal:
Tristan Love:
Cheyenne:
http://www.communitiesinschools.org/our-impact/success-stories/story/trip-dentist-kept-cheyenne-school/
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