teacher

When Students Slip Through the Cracks

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There are many teachings and expectations in education that I struggle to fully wrap my head around. Education is supposed to be a systematic, regulated structure formats, frameworks, and standards we are expected to follow. Yet the reality is, not everything fits neatly into those boxes, and not every student does either.

I am a special education teacher in an alternative education school. Our school serves students from ten surrounding districts within our county. We work with students in grades 7 through 12, and the classified disabilities we support include emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, other health impairments (OHI), Tourette’s syndrome, and others.

Our special education classrooms are structured as 8:1:1, while our general education classes can include up to twelve students. We serve students with high-incidence disabilities in one program and students with low-incidence or more severe disabilities in another, based on instructional and support needs. These decisions are not arbitrary they are intentional, because the needs are real and complex.

Every facet of education matters. Curriculum matters. Standards matter. Data matters. But what matters just as much are the students sitting in those classrooms students who come in carrying trauma, instability, frustration, and often a long history of feeling misunderstood or dismissed.

And this is the part that weighs heavy.

If we, as educators, do not do a thorough job if we allow these students to slip through the cracks of the education system the impact does not end at graduation or aging out. These are the same students who are eventually sent out into the real world without the tools, coping skills, or supports they needed all along. The struggle doesn’t disappear; it just shifts. And when it does, it affects all of society.

Education is not just about passing classes or checking off requirements. For many of these students, school is the last structured support system they will have. It is where they learn how to regulate emotions, resolve conflict, communicate, and survive in a world that often isn’t built for them.

The Quiet Permission to Let Go

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If you think about it, winter forces stillness. It’s something we have no control over, it simply is. The snow softens everything around us. It hides the letting go of the temporary, vibrant life we’re given in the spring and throughout the summer. But even this form of life gets tired. It grows weary of the heat, the wind, and the rainstorms.

The same goes for people. We get tired of the challenges life puts us through. The difference is, we can break those cycles. We have the ability to shelter ourselves from what damages us.

Protect yourself, and let go of the things, and the people that do you no justice. When you feel worn down or cornered, remember to protect yourself and your peace.

Invest in You

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Invest in yourself. Hold yourself accountable to yourself. You are responsible for your health, mentally and physically. You are responsible for your peace of mind.

Be mindful, be courteous, be strong, and protect your heart, mind, and body.

Invest in what you have left and take care of you.

Let Me Do My Job

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I’m taking a huge risk and it’s sad. I am taking a risk for saying how I really feel.

Today’s society is nothing like the one in which I grew up in. I had morals. I had respect. I lived by rules. Because of this, I am and became the person who I am today.

Things are different today. We, the older generation have to be afraid of what we say and do. The older generation is a lost and forgotten generation. I am talking about the ones who were born in the 60’s and 70’s and younger. Some of us are afraid, like me, who is in fear of losing my job. The job that’s keeping me afloat in this messed up world that we live in today. But should I really be living in fear? What am I at risk of losing? What am I going to gain if I say and do what I feel is in my heart?

The loss of my voice is debilitating. I cannot do the job that my heart yearns for me to do. My job is to make others better. To make others worthy and stronger and self-sufficient. All that is being stripped away from me.

I am a teacher. Let me teach. Let me do the best job I can and have faith in me that I will give others a chance to be successful in life. But how am I supposed to do that if you take away everything I believe in that I need to pass on to generations to come?

It’s a sad society that we live in today. It’s sad that we have to be afraid to discipline, give guidance, and instill morals to those who need it the most.