Viva La Huelga!

The strike is over! After 10 days of waiting for negotiations, wondering when we would see our kids again, wondering when we would earn a daily wage again...FINALLY it's over. Whew! What a relief. I got the call at about 10pm on Wednesday night and was back in my classroom Thursday morning at 7:15 am. Driving into the school parking lot suddenly felt like a privilege. It had been 3 full weeks since I had been on that "side". When I opened my classroom door, I felt like Geraldo Rivera cracking open the tomb. The scabs hadn't used my classroom, so it was just as I left it. I'm such a great "hider" too. I had hidden away some things so well, that I couldn't find them again.

The first day back I asked the students to write to me and tell me what they did that was educational during the strike. A few students were out catching ladybugs, while others learned some multiplication tables. For the most part, I think they played, not fully realizing what an emotional rollercoaster their teacher had been on.

I will continue this blog. The strike was the great motivator to get it started, but there is much more to share about this chosen profession of mine. In the end we got a decent cost of living adjustment, but I still say that good teachers are grossly underpaid. Will that be my crusade? Only time will tell. There are so many things I could put my energy toward in the world of public education, but for the next few days I'm gonna enjoy the kids I teach and get back to 'biness'.