Raison d'Etre

In our area, two school shootings disturbed the first several weeks of the new school year. As usual, the teachers were taken to task. Teachers should recognize changes in behavior and swiftly bring these issues to the attention of – someone – the news is quick to give teachers the responsibility but nebulous on the chain of reporting that should preclude these potential tragedies.

                All I could think is that teachers are still in the process of learning the names of 125 or more new students during the first couple weeks of school. But we’re supposed to notice behavior changes? Really? Try distinguishing between a homicidal kid who wears black goth garb and a kid who wears similar garb just because he likes standing out in whatever way seems open to him. Try to distinguish those shades of difference when you’re still wrestling with who exactly is in your class – because there is always a lot of class fluctuation during those first few weeks.

                And then, do you want us to spend those weeks sussing out the internal angst of the teenage mind or should we, I don’t know, try to TEACH the kids something? 

As a teacher, we’re definitely damned if we do, damned if we don’t. If we’re spending many days getting to know all 125+ incoming students, it’s non-negotiable that an administrator is going to wonder how this fits in with setting learning goals and working inexorably towards those goals.

However if – God forbid – ours is one of those few students who act on homicidal urges, as a community we’re NOT going to question the laws of the land which make gun ownership the right of every red-blooded American, whatever his parenting ability. We’re NOT going to wonder what cultural deficiency left a student feeling devoid of care and concern for the well-being of his peers.
No. Instead, we’re going to wonder why the teacher failed to notice a change in Johnny’s behavior. We’re going to ask ourselves how it was possible that attending to such mundane tasks as pre-assessing 125 new students, planning differentiated instruction and student learning objectives, attending myriad meetings, responding to parent emails and calls, co-planning with teaching teams, grading assignments in order to further differentiate for the future, etc ., took precedence over the REAL reason the teacher was placed in that classroom – to guarantee the safety of each and every child and protect him or her from random acts of peer violence.