My work experience has evolved over the years from being indelibly attached to a corporation that was equated to the city of my birth similarly to the way that the United States of America is equated to the administration of a president. Often at the corporation I would hear phrases such as “not on my watch”. Well, now that I have evolved from mainstream corporation into the field of education, I recognize the need to keep as many atrocities in my school from educationally challenging our students as possible.

How would I accomplish this monumental task? For the most part I take what i have learned in graduate school at Freed Hardeman with a grain of salt. I understand that the information I have learned is invaluable but just like the field of education is morphing into a different creature each year, so is the way that we manage the business of education in city and county schools.

Today’s educator is encumbered with a diverse classs of students who are inclusive in the day-to-day routine of teaching.  No Child Left Behing (NCLB) mandated that we include the resource students as well as CDC students.  NCLB was focused on preventing students from falling through the cracks. As a teacher with a student workload of over 400 students, it appears that a few would inevitably fall through the cracks. Teachers find themselves sacrificing quality time with their families in order to pull some students from out of the cracks.

I, like a physician, have signed an oath of ethics. It is necessary to ethically keep any students with all our might out of the cracks.  In so doing I become a parent away from home as well as caretaker and caring adult for the students who have potential of falling. Some may ask, we have too many students to be even mildly effective. Others say that you probably are only going to make contact with a single student out of a class of 25. With that type of progress many may ask “Why become a teacher?” With so many teachers who are burned out after the many long hours, some may say “Why even stress yourself out?”

My overview of work experience stresses that I make the effort to keep each of my students from falling if I can. Whether there are 40 of them or over 400. I don’t know which one is capable of bridging world peace, discovering a cure for cancer, or a vaccination for aids if I don’t empower them with a mindset that they can succeed.  Insofar as my take on one of my students falling through the crack, my response is “Not on my watch.”