We Are Teachers

Kelly O’Hara

Elkton High School

Social Studies 9-12 Grade

Cecil County

2015 Cecil County TOY

During my first year of teaching, in the middle of an observation, a girl at the back of the class suddenly let out a horrific shriek. Her long hair had become tangled in a metal bolt in the chair. As I spent the next few minutes untangling the girl’s hair instead of teaching my lesson, I thought to myself “is this really what teachers do?”

My answer is Yes! We are teachers. We will do anything to help students.
We provide Band Aids, snacks, hugs, and high fives. We dry tears, tie shoes, organize book bags, and we even untangle hair.

We aren’t afraid to be silly. We stand on desks, sing songs, dress in costume, and dance around the classroom while everyone is watching.
We love what we teach. Our job is not our work – it is our passion. We are mathematicians, scientists, storytellers, historians, writers, artists, musicians, linguists, athletes, chefs, entrepreneurs, and engineers.

We are excellent educators. Our lessons engage, inspire, and empower. We challenge students to ask how and why. We foster critical thinkers who are ready for the real world.
We are professionals. Please treat us as such and please trust us to do our job. We spend our summers, weekends, and nights designing lessons, attending professional development, and creating plans to help all of our students succeed.

We go above and beyond every day. We are mentors, coaches, advisors, field trip coordinators, chaperones, tutors, cheerleaders, counselors, role models, and advocates.
We deserve respect. We are on the frontlines bravely fighting against poverty, drugs, gangs, homelessness, teen pregnancy, bullying, school violence, and hunger. We deal with it all. We do whatever it takes. We are the safe place for our students.

We deserve funding.  Investing in education means investing in our childrens’ future and the success of our nation.  Children should not be the pawns of politics or purse strings.
We are champions of education. We will be heard. We will cancel out the negative voices who, without even stepping foot into a classroom, criticize what we do. We will not allow our students to have anything less than the best education.

We are teachers. We are shaping the future. And we change lives every day.