Greetings Interwebs!

So, if I were to begin a blog and discuss my thoughts about my personal profession of education, would anyone listen? I guess we can find out. It might help if you knew me, which is what this post is for. I will get to issues and topics later. The abbreviated version is as follows, my name is Cory Williams. I teach 7th grade Geography at Carver Middle School in Tulsa OK. I’m a lifelong resident of Northeast OK and a proud continuing product of Oklahoma public education (Master’s graduation Dec 2016). I have eight years of teaching under my belt. I’ve taught in high school, middle school, alternative and traditional settings. I have three kids that are way cooler than me. And I absolutely love being a teacher. There’s a lot more but that’s enough for now. You can also  find me on Twitter @MrWilliamsRm110 or Facebook, I’m there a a lot.

I don’t have enough fingers to count the teachers in my family, and I’m in the third generation wave. My mother was a teacher and a principal (mine for some of those stints). All four of her sisters were teachers. Their father was a teacher, principal and country superintendent. 

Growing up as a Teacher’s Kid (TK) I saw the good and the bad. I developed an appreciation for education and learning. Because of that, I love my job so much it isn’t a job. There isn’t much of a line between Mr. Williams and Cory (as my family and friends can attest to). I have allowed this job to consume me in a number of ways and I am okay with that.  I tend to get consumed with stuff. Aside from teaching I have a passion for the culture and sociology of politics. My bachelor's degree is in History and Political Science. I clearly can blame my mom for my teaching gene. My father gets the blame for my political animal gene. He loved to learn, read, and discuss ideas with me and my siblings. His wit and wisdom will never leave me (even though died three years ago), Our discussion rarely stayed on simple topics. My father taught me to discover the “why”. He loved to say “Knowing the answer is not enough, when you know why, you’ve learned it.”

But that's enough about me, now why am I doing this???

Over the past few years Oklahoma has made significant political changes in a number of areas. Education seeing more than most. There hasn't been much positive change in these recent actions. And there are not a lot of altruistic motives behind those advocating through the plethora of current “fix our schools” campaigns. Most of these movements have little or no professional insight or contribution from teachers. And don’t make the mistake, that IS by design. 

It does no good to mince words and pretend. There are those in the state legislature that do not like public education. And it is no surprise public education in Oklahoma has been under siege by business and private interests that cannot possibly understand the value of something they can’t package in a box, bundle it in a financial boondoggle, or pump in a tank to sell. Our kids aren’t widgets or commodities to be sold, they are citizens to be trained. These interests are all over the country and have really awesome names and long lists of important people that are involved and on their side. Again, there aren’t a lot of teachers or principals on those lists. These groups are big, but they cannot do it alone. These interests have spent obscene amounts of money shoring up influence at our state Capitol. We have our work cut out for us.

Let’s talk salary real quick. I have a feeling we will have plenty of time to go wildly in-depth into the lovely talk of living wages, and teacher pay but for now, just a quick thought to end this post.. Our state legislature makes $38K a year plus a daily per diem during session to cover travel, food and housing. Did you get that? They get a per diem during their “work time” to cover living expenses (and here we are using our salaries like dummies…). And their work time is roughly 75 days (M-Th 1st week of Feb thru last week of May with the last two Fridays being workdays). I’ve got a few years until I reach that scale (I’m 8.5 years in now), and that’s a big “if” as to whether we get those step raises. I’m not going to ever plan on receiving a per diem (but it would be nice). Are there legislators that work tirelessly to advocate for our profession and our children? Are they away from their homes and families? Yes, there are. Do they deserve to be compensated for their work and expenses? Of course they do. The point is, we do too.

I tell you that to say, I think it’s time we made them earn that money a little bit. They are counting on us being disengaged, apathetic,  too busy, or too lazy. As I lamented to a colleague of mine as I was drafting this “I want to do this but I’m kinda lazy.” I don’t think our students and communities can allow for us to be lazy anymore...

The blog will probably flashier as I go. I, however, will remain my usual non-flashy self. Let me know what you think.