I have never been so proud to be a teacher

by Anne Dichele, professor of Education

It is Sunday evening, two days after the horrendous incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School. When the news broke Friday morning, I was working with teachers at the Side By Side Charter School in South Norwalk, helping them to design new curricular changes for next year. As the worsening news unfolded, the face of each staff member became more and more pained; for people who daily devote their working lives to being with and teaching children, the very idea of such violence invading the sacred space of any school left each of us limp with helplessness and empathy…knowing that it could easily have been our school, our kids.

And I have never been so proud to be a teacher.

Because I knew, before any of the details broke, what those details would be. Not a teacher in this
country was surprised to hear that the teachers of Sandy Hook Elementary School were heroic in trying to protect their students; not a teacher in this country was astounded by the breaking news that those brave teachers died trying to keep their little ones safe. No teacher was surprised, because each of us knew in our hearts that were it any of us, we would hope to do the same.

And I have never been so proud to be a teacher.

And I have thought often throughout this weekend of the largely nameless staff of the school, those many, many teachers who hid, protected and ultimately led more 300 or more little ones to safety. Over 300 children under the age of 10 made it out alive, led by teachers. Teachers, who while deeply frightened themselves, had the capacity and professional training to remain unimaginably calm, putting the emotional and physical safety of children, the ones they love and care for every day, first and foremost. Not only did the majority of those children make it out alive, they made it to safety without panicking, without exacerbating the fear that was all too real.

And I have never been so proud to be a teacher.

And today and tomorrow, teachers all over this country, in every classroom, in every state, will take on another heroic task, of trying to help their students to carry on, to trust again, to understand and believe in a world that we as adults know is as dangerous as it is beautiful, frightening as it is miraculous.
And they will do this, as they do every day, with intelligence, professionalism, and a deep sense of
responsibility for the children of this nation.

And I have never been so proud to be a teacher.

And finally, I cannot help but think going forward, with the issue of teacher evaluations so much in the forefront of our national conversation, how do we evaluate teachers for potential bravery? For selfless protection of children in the face of danger? For putting children first regardless of how harrowing a circumstance? How do we test for this kind of mettle? I cannot say – but I do know, that in my thirty plus years of teaching and now training teachers, of the many teachers I know and love, those teachers would pass such a test, and clearly, already have done so.