I spent the day with Annika at her basketball tournament today. This was her first year playing, but she was on a team with a lot of super-talented kids who have obviously been playing basketball for years already, so while she practiced hard, she didn’t get much playing time in the tougher games today. She had fun, though, although she did say she wants to try a sport that doesn’t involve so much physical contact. I think we’re going to try tennis this summer with St. Paul Urban Tennis (SPUT). I am looking forward to that; hopefully it’s not quite so intense. They did win the tournament. She was proud.

Spending the day out with people, doing something unrelated to my job and away from most of the internet was pretty healthy. It gave me some time to breathe and let go of some of the anger I’ve been feeling, but also process it a little into something positive.

Coming back onto the internet this evening, I came across the speech by Emma Gonzalez, a student at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. It echoed the rage I’d been feeling for days, but it also lifted my spirits. These kids are fighting hard. It’s not their job – they don’t even have a job right now, except to take care of themselves – but they are taking it up and kicking ass.

Someone asked me why I loved teaching earlier this week. It was a tough day to answer. I often feel like teachers are not just called to do the physical and mental and emotional labor of taking care of our students and helping them learn, but to also love every moment of it. If we don’t love it, we are deficient. It doesn’t seem to matter if we are good at it, if we are caring, if we are thoughtful… we have to LOVE it. Does anyone ask lawyers why they love their job? Does anyone ask HR professionals why they love their job? Carpenters? Engineers? I’m sure they do occasionally, but it probably comes up mostly in interviews or at major career moments, not regularly. The word love is thrown around a lot in teaching, for better or for worse.

Today I was reminded why I love teaching when I watched that video of a girl, obviously traumatized and on the verge of crying, speaking her truth. I want those opportunities for my students. I want them to go out and make their change and live their lives well and find their purpose. It’s why I love to teach argumentation, debate, communication, and writing: it empowers students to tell their own stories and speak their truths to the world. It might not feel like it every day, like when I’m just begging a kid to capitalize proper nouns, but in the end, it’s their voices that matter.

I love that.