Untold “Doodies” of an Elementary Educator
Teachers are taught to please administration, meet State Dept. standards
and teach to the letter of the common core. We are taught the latest acronyms in
the field: RTI, ARC, FMD, ESL, PGP, CSIP, MAP, EBD, etc.
In the pursuit of obtaining our certificates and in continued professional development
we spend countless hours on creating extensive lesson plans implementing differentiation strategies, keeping running records, anecdotal notes, checklists, building reading stamina; all for our 21stcentury learners.
It’s the down in the trenches kind of education they don’t prepare us for.
One of the best examples I can give you to demonstrate this is the
“doodie” of monitoring the bathroom; specifically the boy’s bathroom. I cannot begin to tell you the amount of
dread and apprehension I feel when I turn the corner to go in the boy’s restroom.
You just never know what’s going to scar your life from day to day.
Maybe it’s the child you see drinking from the urinal, or the little boy
who turns around mid-stream to talk to someone, spraying them at the same
time. Perhaps it’s the line of bare butts of little boys who’ve dropped pants to their ankles while standing at
the urinal. How about the grandpa who didn’t realize to use the staff restroom
and managed to sneak past you? That can be an awkward moment and is why many of us in the teaching
profession tend to neglect monitoring the boy’s restroom on Grandparent’s Day. It could be a water fight you
have to break up at the sinks. Even better, catching little ones crawling from under the stalls,
snickering uncontrollably because they’ve just locked all the doors. Maybe it’s the trail of turds you see haphazardly on the floor and the poopy underwear lying in the back of the stall.
Regardless of the number of degrees you hold, the amount of professional
development hours you’ve obtained, or the number of professionals in the field
you’ve spoken with, nothing will prepare you for dealing with these types of
situations until you are face to face with them. Even then, you have to be able to think
on your feet. Educators face new obstacles and dilemmas everyday of which you cannot possibly be prepared.