Politics

It is election season. If you know anything about teachers, you should know that whether we like it or not, politics plays a part in our lives. Whether it's the politics of a school system/school board, or coming from the Union itself, there is usually something happening.
Our presidential election is coming up in less than a month, and Wisconsin happens to be a battle-ground state. Over the past two weeks, both Senator Obama and Senator McCain have had rallys in LaCrosse. Our entire 8th grade class has been able to attend both of them. I've seen everything from teachers wearing buttons with a nominee's name on them-to bumper stickers outside of their classroom, to a recent editorial in the paper about a 6th grade teacher at our school giving an informal straw poll and then supposedly mocking the kids that didn't raise their hands to vote for the teacher's preferred candidate.
We have long conversations about what is "professional." I just also know that as a teacher, it is hard to speak very objectively about something you feel passionate about-such as the election.
I've just been thinking a lot lately about the impact that we really have on our students. They dwell on what we say-they want to be like us and like the same things as us. I really try hard to speak about things in general without adding my opinion. I really thought I had until one of my 8th grade students put a sign up on my board when I wasn't looking that said:
"I love Sarah Palin."
- Madame Wopat

So, I clearly, have not done what I set out to do! It always helps to put things into perspective-kids will pick up any little thing that you say!