Now, I don’t want to start off on the wrong foot. I’m not here to say that teachers are absolutely miserable during the holiday season. We love it just as much as the next person, but I am here to drop the truth about the strain that teachers go through during the holidays because of the care we have for our students. The holidays aren’t the best times for everyone. We all know that. And every year, we teachers, deal with that painful look that many students give when the holiday season comes around and the disappointment of another unhappy holiday for some of our youth kicks in.
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I have been teaching for the past three years – making this the third holiday season that I am going into as a teacher.
I remember the first time hearing about what to be aware of with our students during the holiday season during a faculty meeting where I walked out thinking that none of the information that was shared could be true. Living in this pleasant delusion that I had grown up in, I had a misconception of how other youth actually lived.
For many students, the holiday season is not the best time for them. They get to see other students asking for expensive gifts and getting them while the only thing that they want is the ability to get a job to help their family. There are some students who come to school everyday because they want to, but because they need to in order to get a meal. And when the school goes on holiday break that holiday meal is taken away.
During this stressful time, students begin acting out, and teachers begin wondering what they can do to help these students.
This post is not to show how teachers are having a horrible time, but to shed light on the reality of what is going on with some of our youth.
We, as a people, stay aware of poverty and what others do not have during the holiday season, but that is all we do, we just stay aware. We don’t do much. We sit back and consume the gifts that we receive during the holiday season and on a regular basis. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but there is also no harm in paying it forward.
I am fortunate enough to be in a position as a teacher where I can make a difference for these students during this season, and have them seeing the positivity of the holidays.
Honestly, we all are in a position to make some change. So, for today’s #TeachStyle, the lesson is to give back and make a change.
