I’m a teacher. I work with young children. I should be able to help.
What can I do?
What can I do to stem the tide of hate?
What can I do to make the world a safer place?
What can I do to make people come together?
What can I do to encourage my students to add beauty to the world, not carnage?
What can I do to prevent disasters like the one that took place last night in Las Vegas?
I’m a teacher. I work with young children. I should be able to help.
Maybe I can feed them the right books.
Maybe I can help them listen to different perspectives.
Maybe I can help them navigate and regulate their feelings when they need to.
Maybe I can help them write about their ideas and their concerns.
Maybe I can make sure they know they have a voice and they know how to use it.
Maybe I can make sure that all students feel loved and cared for.
I’m a teacher. I work with young children. I should be able to help.
Writing to Learn, Learning to Write 
A big question, but one that we all have to keep asking ourselves. ❤️
Keep asking questions…..that’s it.
What can we do? My post is around that question also. Today feels like standing at the bottom of a giant canyon with your questions, but we have to keep teaching that our voices and our writing do have power. Our children are growing up in a world that needs to become safer.
Your piece speaks to me. Our souls are yearning to stop the madness. The repetition of the question and the statement of your daily role make a powerful hook.
You do help – not just young children but your colleagues. In your role, you strive to connect with kids and colleagues – you are honest as you tell your stories in writing and spoken – these actions do make a difference – I believe that and you.
Thank you. Your words mean so much to me!
You do help. I really like your refrain. It’s pleading and calming at the same time. I think about the same things. It’s probably not possible to eliminate hate or mental illness. I do think that the more kids read and write, the more they understand themselves and others. The more empathy and open mindedness there is in the world, the more healthy we are as a society. Of course, I also think we’re teaching problem-solving, and some generation may finally realize that making it harder for someone to get assault weapons might be a logical first step.
Pleading and calming….That’s an interesting observation. I agree that reading and writing is one way to help us understand ourselves and the world around us. It’s my hope that the answer (at least part of the answer) is in our literacy work (and problem-solving too). We need to show children how to think about ideas and have opinions, while at the same time listening and considering the opinions of others. This is hard work, but I think it has big payoff. And yes, I really don’t understand why we can’t figure out a way to keep assault weapons out of civilian hands.
A powerful post. It resonates with me, as it does the other readers who have commented here. I hope that in our unsureness of knowing how we can help, we become paralyzed and end up not helping. I do not hear that in your post. But, It did make me think of this after I read it. Thoughts and words need to translate to actions. I hope that can become a reality. Thank you for a thought provoking read.