This is not me. I probably don't look this together in the classroom.      As I write this, I'm sitting on my couch, enjoying the sacred long weekend. It's Monday, and I get the day off to reflect on the greatness of some dead, white, slave-owning men. God bless America. I'm also carefully watching every model of weather forecast as a storm may or may not be dumping s school-cancelling quantity of snow and ice at the optimal these-roads-are-impassable time. I'm optimistic.
     I'm taking advantage of my day off to get some writing done, I mean, some actual, pop-on-the-headphones-and-forget-the-outside-world writing. 
     As a teacher, I consider it a service to my students to take this time. No joke. I do have a list of things that need to be done to prepare for my week educating and molding young minds, and I'll get to that, but this writing thing needs to be on my list as well. And I have a very sound reason.
     It sucks to be in education right now. And just by saying that, I'm opening myself to a world of criticism from some members of my community. For some of these folks, I should be grateful that their tax dollars support me. Please don't get me wrong, I am grateful that I am able to help support my family with what I make in the classroom. I am not complaining about the amount I am paid. 
     For that matter, I'm not going to go through a list of the problems in education right now. As with any societal issue (and, let's face it, public education is a societal issue), there are layers and layers of problems. I'm not necessarily equipped to answer to all of them. I can only speak to my experiences, but, from them, I CAN confidently say that all teachers need a creative outlet to keep themselves healthy.
     Originally, I got into education because it was an outlet to work with kids. And working with kids can be messy. It's exhilarating to solve problems on the fly, it's challenging to try and meet students' needs, it's empowering to think that I can impact them for the future through something that I say or a challenging discussion. 
    Since I promised to not address the problems with education, I need to stand by that. Let me simply say that there are fewer and fewer days in which I am able to solve problems and more and more days in which concern over testing and numbers dominate my day. The data is an ever present factor in everything that I do, and every decision I make has to be able to answer to those test numbers. Gone are the days (or, at least, severely minimized) when a teacher can simply say that he or she knows in the gut that students are enjoying something or struggling with something. Teaching is much less about creativity and much more about meeting state, federal, and local mandates.
     Therefore, I have a mandate of my own. Some people need to be creative. Humans need hobbies, we need things to work on and relax with that will fulfill and challenge us when our jobs do not. I would argue that the teaching field has traditionally attracted creative people, and I am certain that I am not the only one leaving my workplace feeling the change from the creative field I fell in love with. No matter how the school has changed, as long as I am in it, I owe it to my students to keep trying to help them. I also need to acknowledge how the landscape of my career has changed, and it has changed away from the inventive, open ended, and stimulating.
     This means that writing, for me, has become more important.
     People come by writing through a variety of channels, and it may be possible that those channels are often therapeutic. I can not encourage enough other teachers to give yourself the time to tell your stories. The stress of the job does not show any sign of abating soon, and, regardless of what that stress can be attributed to, Publish, don't publish, solicit agents, never send out a resume. But write. And make time to do it, don't just pick away when you get time - you and I both know that you don't just get time. 
     Finding an outlet for the drive that got you into teaching is important. I will continue to encourage other teachers to continue fighting the good fight in their classrooms - and that means being fulfilled yourself. Write or paint or play and then teach.