about opp anonymous

Hi there, 

 

Welcome to Not a Mockumentary.  I'm opp anonymous. 

 

I’ve been in the classroom for over twenty years.  In that time, I’ve learned a lot - not just about the art of teaching (and yes, teaching is an art form), but I’ve also learned a lot about human nature in general, especially the nature of teenagers. 

 

I love my students, and I have solid relationships with them. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I am pretty non judgmental about big picture personal issues. I respect them. I’m also painfully awkward, so I probably make them feel a lot better about themselves by comparison.

 

I’ve experienced quite a bit in my life, and I am not unwilling to share personal anecdotes - even stories that are embarrassing or unflattering - if what I am sharing might keep someone from making a bad choice.

 

Before anyone worries: the information with its implicit advice? It’s never about issues related to self-harm, gender identity, or any other struggle that would be better handled by a parent or a professional or would be illegal or even frowned upon for me to address.  

 

I might be able to reach someone in crisis, so why not? Easy.

 

I want my students to thrive and am not dumb enough to think my experiences or ideas are applicable to a student dealing with trauma.  

 

Also, and selfishly just as important to my life, I’m not gonna go to jail or lose my job.  

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Anyway.  The website.

 

Here’s where I’m coming from: media representation of life in the classroom is almost always contrived and histrionic.  

 

At one end of the classroom-life-spectrum, entertainment media presents teachers as miracle working martyrs. This trope usually begins with an inexperienced teacher stepping into a classroom full of hostile, low-performing students who are expected to fail. After a bout of despair, the teacher is somehow able to tap into the needs and talents of not just one student, but rather, an entire class and successfully coaches all the students to unbelievable success.

 

At the other end of the classroom-life-spectrum, teachers are monstrous scourges of society.  This trope isn’t just a favorite of the entertainment media; it’s also a favorite of the news media. The story arc involves a teacher who exploits his or her position and damages students as a consequence. Sometimes, the teacher is a simple drunk. Air quotes around simple, please. More often, though, the teacher is a sexual predator, providing vulnerable students a false sense of stability in order to gain access to the child’s body. 

 

Maybe conversations about life in real classrooms can disabuse people holding on to the misconception that teachers are either martyrs or monsters. Like cameras in a classroom, kind of.

 

I feel like it wouldn’t take long before folks see the vast majority of us are a bunch of shlubs just trying to get by.

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At its most basic, life in public schools should be described as cyclonic predictability.

 

Mundane chaos.  

 

Kids, teachers, admin, support staff, custodians…probably everyone in the building: we’re all trying to make it as well as we can.  Those of us who exist along the martyr - monster spectrum are struggling to not only keep public education strong but also to keep our dignity. 

 

All that money, all those policies established based on the superlative ends of the martyr - monster spectrum while the real people committed to public education pinch by with less and less.

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Ultimately, my hope is that Not a Mockumentary will allow folks a glimpse into the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful of public education. 

 

For all of us in the buildings, public schooling is an indefinable grind full of victories and losses.  

 

Kind of like life itself.  

I hope you stop by again.