On Being Fired from My Job
By: Ashley Lamb-Sinclair
Tags: Education, Teachers, Teacher Stories, Careers, Teacher Voice

“Nerds make the world go round.”

That’s what my mom always told me. And being nerdy is pretty much how a classroom teacher became an “Educational Columnist” for a local online publication. In my free time, I would write my views on education and send them in for consideration. After about a year of submitting letters, a few of which were published in the “Community Voice” section, I was shocked to receive an email from the editor asking me to write a regular education column. I was thrilled that this publication valued education enough to showcase an authentic “from the trenches perspective” of a currently employed teacher.

Being a currently employed teacher, I thought this would be easy. And it was. I was elated to actually get paid to reflect and write about education, teaching, and my students. I wrote about the things that were important to myself and many of my colleagues like social emotional learning, art, parent involvement, community partnerships, and the amazingness of teachers. I painted a detailed picture of what learning looked like in my classroom. I talked with colleagues and shared their voices and stories as well. I illuminated bright spots that I saw happening in our classrooms. I shared challenges teachers face too.

Then, after about 6 months, an email came stating that my column was to be discontinued. My editor was looking for “a more eyes-wide-open, edgier treatment of classroom issues, dealing with the bad as much as the good.”

I was being fired for not having my “eyes-wide-open” in regards to classroom issues. This boiled my blood. How does this newspaper editor get to tell an educator of nearly two decades that her eyes were not open? Everyday for the past 17 years, my eyes, just like any educator, have not been even slightly shut. I have seen teachers sacrifice their already too short lunch break to talk with students who need a listening ear. I have seen a student throw a chair across the classroom in frustration. I have seen students beaming with pride as they share their work with their parents. I have seen parents crying to teachers for advice on how to help their child learn. I have seen teachers classroom windows open well into the evening hours as they tirelessly work to prepare for school the next week.

Edgier treatment of classroom issues? It made me think of an edge: the outside limit of and object; a place or part farthest away from the center. Therein lies the heart of the issue. It reminds me of the lesson on the Earth’s layers we recently covered in class. If student are the core of education then teachers are the outer core both working and learning together. The media could be considered the earth’s crust or what the general public sees from the outside. Teacher tales from the center need to be unearthed and shared with a wider audience. Unless teachers share their stories, they will go unseen and unheard until there is some large explosion like a scandal or other unsavory events that crowd media headlines.

“Dealing with the bad as much as the good.” Did I read this wrong? I began to wonder if I got fired for sharing too many positive stories about education. Does the public benefit from hearing only the stories of lawsuits and lack of federal funding that are omnipresent in the news today? I recently read an online publication that asked the public to share accounts of school based bullying where school officials “did not adequately respond” which resulted in an influx of bullying stories splashed across the front page. This is exactly why teachers need to fill in the gaps and share their accounts of classroom camaraderie and acts of kindness that we see everyday in school. Education is far from perfect, but if teachers don’t speak up bright spots in our current education system may be overlooked in favor of “edgier” stories.

By sharing teacher voice in media, the public gets an authentic look at the center of education not only polished articles from the outside looking in. Being “in the trenches” educators are the only ones that can provide this perspective. And that a newspaper editor to suggest that a teacher should be “edgier” demonstrates a serious lack of understanding and respect for the work that educators do every day. We are not on the edges, we are in the center. All day everyday. That is a perspective that no journalist can ever replace.

Teachers, do not let others tell our stories for us. Let our true stories define our profession, inform education policy, and be the blueprint for the future of education. Next time a student brightens your day, tell that story. Next time a student struggles and fails, tell that story. Next time, you feel like quitting, tell that story. Next time you feel triumphant, tell that story too. These are the stories of education in America, and teachers are the only ones who can tell them.

Lory Walker Peroff is a fourth grade teacher at Waikiki Elementary School and a Hope Street Group alumna who believes writing is not only enjoyable but essential. She lives in Honolulu with her husband, two energetic daughters, three chickens, two ducks and one peahen. Find her on Twitter @teacherperoff.

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