I got dressed today. I had an incredible desire to feel like nothing’s changed. Like - if I got dressed, I could go to school. Grab a coffee. Talk to my friends. Start the day and see my favorite teenagers. Talk to all of them - laugh and make jokes. Talk about all the things we’re doing to keep ourselves sane. I would tell them how proud I am of them and the ways they’ve carried themselves this year and how the love they’ve given hasn’t gone unnoticed. 

I got dressed today. I thought I could magically see them in person and not through a screen. I wanted to feel close to them. To feel like everything would be as it has been. To feel encouraged. To feel normal. To see for myself that they’re taking care of themselves and not saying only what they think I want to hear. To tell them an overly embellished story just so I can hear their laughter. 

I got dressed today because I know this isn’t normal, but I’m starting to feel like it is. Maybe if I get dressed and make my own coffee and sit down at my makeshift desk, then everything will feel better. The truth is, I’ve been unintentionally hiding how much I miss my students. I’ve suppressed the feeling so far down that it’s now bubbling just underneath the surface and I feel as if I may burst. Some days - days like today - I’m broken and just want to make sure my students are okay. Because, the truth is: I’m not. And that’s okay.
 
I got dressed today and had to go to the building. I stood in my classroom. Coffee in hand. Mask on my face. The walls are the same. ACT tests sit askew in desk baskets - carelessly tossed and abandoned, ready to be picked up to be used, but ultimately forgotten. I started taking my books off my shelves to bring home so they don’t warp in the humidity. I pulled a book off the shelf and remembered a student telling me she wanted to read a “good” story but didn’t know what that was. It took us until December to find her a book she could actually finish and she was so happy she finally finished a book and actually liked reading. I had many genuine conversations with students about books and what words actually mean when they impact our lives. We talked about pain. About death. Love. Relationships. The anticipation of Summer and little responsibilities. Now, I’m dressed. Sitting at my desk. Staring at 35 empty desks. And it’s time to say goodbye. 

So. Here it is. A message to my students: I’m proud to call you mine. I have felt like the luckiest teacher this year - the bad days included. I’ve seen you show love. I’ve seen you come out of the darkness. I’ve seen you grow. I’ve seen you continue breathing and moving, even when you didn't want to. You are funny and strong and resilient. I’m a better teacher - and person - for knowing you. Thank you for your moments of vulnerability and for trusting me to lead you. I can’t wait to see you again in person.

Tessie Curran currently teaches at Moore High School and serves as a sectional officer in charge of new teachers for OKCTE.

Stories are vital to the English Language Arts curriculum. They are more than just words on a page. Each letter, each syllable, and each line encompass life lessons that the characters transfer from the page to the reader. Students need to read and learn about The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet to understand how a play so old can still transcend time and remain relevant today. Students need to read and learn about The Odyssey, so they can understand how a common man can overcome insurmountable odds: the same odds I see my students face every day in my classroom, the same odds I know they will face once they leave my classroom, and the same odds I know they can overcome due to what I give them in my classroom. Sometimes, the best stories are not the ones we read, but they are the ones we create.
 
The first essay we do in my English class is the narrative essay. This is usually the first time my students have ever seen an essay. I give my students a model of the essay I want them to write: a four paragraph essay about my struggles and my accomplishments. We dissect each sentence of the essay and identify what each sentence does. When finished, I give my students an outline to guide them and their writing. They type up their essays of their struggles and accomplishments and email them to me when they are finished.
 
Teaching is not a job. Teaching is a profession. As a teacher, I am expected to be a professional with my students at all times. The line gets blurred whenever I teach, for I have found that teaching is so personal at times. Sharing my own essay about my own struggles and accomplishments is personal. It allows my students to see me, not the teacher, in a different light. When I read their narrative essays, it allows me to see them, not the students, in a better light. They see a teacher who is not always right, but they see a teacher who struggles and perseveres just like they do. I see students who may not always be as passionate about the English Language Arts as I am, but they are passionate about other things. They should be. The stories we create and share with one another allow us to be authentic with one another: these stories are the best ones.
 
In a world where we get bombarded with images that may not always represent life accurately, teachers must be as authentic with their students as much as possible. Our classrooms may be the only place where students engage with authenticity. Creating stories and sharing them with one another allows us to be authentic. When we create our own stories with conviction, we not only teach, but we inspire. Our own stories help our students grow. Their own stories help us grow.
 
Mr. Chong Lor has been an English teacher at Jones High School for the past two years. He also served as our OKCTE Young Writers Contest Coordinator this past year. Prior to teaching, he served in the U.S. Army for eight years. His hobbies include writing, creating music, reading, and playing guitar. He plans to continue teaching but overseas in the near future.

I’m not sure who told me this valuable piece of wisdom early in my career, but it has served as a central piece of my pedogeological framework. I used to see it only in terms of classroom management. If I permit students to turn in late work, I am promoting being unaccountable. If I permit students to sleep during instruction, I am promoting that participation is not vital. While these are important, I need to remember the hidden messages I send when I make decisions of what will and will not happen in my classroom.

Educational theorists like Henry Giroux and Ruby Panye have outlined hidden curriculum and rules that are inherent in education. As a teacher, I am given a tremendous power to promote what I feel is important for the next generation to learn.  If schools are to serve as a place where socialization and experiential education can take place, I need to use that power to ensure diversity and inclusion flow naturally within our learning. Below are some of the things that I work hard to permit within the classroom.

• If I permit literature that reflects a diversity of culture, I am promoting humanity. In American literature – which I teach – it would be easy to focus on mainstream classics – Hawthorne, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald – but that means I am telling my students that only white authors in American literature are worthy of reading. By intentionally selecting literature from a variety of cultures – Momaday, Tan, Cisneros, Ellison, Leviathan – I promote experiencing and learning about microcultures not of our own. If the lessons only reflect the majority, I am depriving students of finding the mirror that reflects them in literature that we share.
  
  
• If I permit discussion of world religions, I am promoting tolerance of other faiths. Folding faith into schools can be a tricky thing, but just because it takes considerable effort to do it right, doesn’t mean we should avoid it. While our country is mainly Christian, the melting pot that is America continues to become a larger intersectionality for forms of faith each year. Researching other religions or asking students of different faiths to share their own experiences and is a good way to start this conversation. Teaching understanding of different religions doesn’t mean advocating them, just simply promoting tolerance and respect for those who believe differently.
  
  
• If I permit welcoming a variety of gender and sexual identities, I am promoting acceptance. Identity development is hard enough without having to feel as though your own expression is restricted. Those who find themselves questioning their sexuality or gender can feel like they are alone and unwelcome in a world that promotes heterosexuality and strict gender norms. LGBTQ students are one of the most oppressed groups in public education, so finding ways to include discussion of sexuality and gender fluidity can help build acceptance and identify allies.
  
  
• If I permit students to share and learn in multiple modes, I am promoting understanding exceptionalities. We might not be good at everything, but we are all good at something. However, amid the increasing standardization of public education, those who are unable to express their strengths through a multiple-choice format can feel as though they are less that their peers. Students need to be taught using a variety of instructional modes – auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc. – but they also need to express their understanding in an assortment of ways. Implementing multimodal lessons and activities can help students shine in ways that traditional paper and pencil cannot, and promote that being different is not the exception but the rule.
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In this same vein, I also need to remember teachers serve as role models for their students. In many instances, educators are the only positive adult influence students interact with consistently. Whether I like it or not, everything I do as a teacher can potentially be internalized by students as condoned behavior. So, if I promote myself as being uneducated about the different microcultures my students belong to, I are promoting that it is okay to remain within my own ignorant bubble. If I permit my students to remain uneducated or have their assumptions about those who are uniquely a part of our world remain unchallenged, I promote building walls and segregating the world. There are already enough ways to divide people, I’d rather spend my time permitting students learn to accept their peers as they are by promoting love, compassion and tolerance as the tools to begin to tear down those walls.