Haters Gonna Hate...and then they Just Might Advocate

I hated school as a kid. If you had told me as a high schooler that one day I would not only be a teacher but have a doctorate in education and choose to work as an advocate for both teachers and students, I would have thought you were insane. I did not like teachers, I did not like studying, and I did not like reading, writing, or math. I attended Catholic schools in the '70s and '80s and this setting did not cultivate the liberal arts environment that I loved or the liberal philosophies that I endorsed. I rarely kept a thought to myself which did not play well in an arena that promoted the policy of children being seen and not heard. It definitely did not fly for a girl who felt gender equality was not only fair but socially mandatory. (In third grade, I went to our pastor and told him that there should be altar girls as well as altar boys, to which he responded by laughing while noting that that would never happen.) In addition to being an outspoken, dramatic, and avant-garde child, I also struggled with undiagnosed learning challenges, focusing deficits, and hyperactivity, which not only frustrated teachers but my mother (who was also a teacher) as well.
My early experiences with teachers were not awesome because they did not understand how to teach me in a manner that would engage me as a learner. Before the 21st century, student engagement was not of particular importance or concern since the philosophy of time was that students were to acclimate to the teacher opposed to the more current belief that teachers should be accommodating their students' learning style. Where the students seemed helplessly at the mercy of their teachers' inclinations, today's student is accommodated and acquiesced by a system that is paralyzed by a litigious society that is willing to undermine the one system that is responsible for preparing our future generations.
I frequently reference the societal pendulum that is a response to the way previous generations have managed areas of life, and the educational system is no stranger to this pendulum oriented responsiveness. Unfortunately, the casualties of the new age system are the teachers who give their time, energy, and money (yes, money!) to individualize for student learning while jumping through hoops set up by well-meaning government initiatives such as NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). Teacher responsibilities have steadily increased while teacher support has decreased over the past few decades and this perilous combination has resulted in a mighty exodus of new educators fleeing the system within three years of their first service year and seasoned teachers seeking professional refuge in new professions that offer more money and less stress. We are losing teachers at such a rapid rate that the system is now dependent on emergency certification programs to keep teacher to student ratios at an acceptable level.
As a teacher, I have been a great advocate for children, especially the academic outliers who struggle with big personalities, learning disabilities, and attention deficits. Now as a doctor of education, I am advocating for the welfare of those who have devoted their lives to the betterment of children because you cannot comprehensively support children without compassionately supporting educators. This is the mission of "L'educateur Moderne", the vision of Papillion Press, LLC, and the purpose of this blog, "Using My Teacher Voice"!
Welcome to my attempt to make the world a kinder, gentler place for both students and teachers through the power of the written word!