We know we don’t know everything. We know feeling like we don’t know anything. But we know so much. We know our students and their families. We know the ones who don’t have enough, and we know the ones who have too much. We know who woke up late, who broke up with whom, who broke into someone’s apartment. We know late nights. We know janitors because we stay at school so late, so often. We know secretaries, because they know everything. We know cheating. We know studying. We know how many hours it takes to put together a lesson, and we know we don’t want to grade anymore. We know taking work home nights and weekends, those summers “off” when we take second jobs and continuing education credits. We know we can’t sleep because we can’t let go. We know we should stop teaching when we’re able to let go. We know we save all the things our students give us—artwork, rap lyrics, flowers. We know lost assignments and missed deadlines, and we know disorganization. We know messy backpacks, lockers, lifestyles. We know frustration. We know “Fuck you!” and “Thank you!” And we know we’re probably doing something right if we hear them in a two-to-one ratio.
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Erin Parker received her B.S. in ecology from Michigan Technological University and multiple teaching certifications from Edgewood College. She currently teaches high school Earth sciences at Madison East High School in Madison, Wisconsin, where she works hard to emphasize reading, writing, and communicating along with the science content.
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