Y'all if you didn't read my post last week then you may not know it, but my teacher heart is struggling. Teachers have enough pressure and negativity coming from people who "don't get us." But when we start to attack one another, we have reached a whole new level. We are each other's biggest support system, because yea, we get it. So when teachers start to bully one another, I start to lose my mind. I tell my littles all the time that when we don't make choices to build someone up, we hurt their heart. Teacher bullies, you are hurting our hearts.

We are supposed to be here for our students. Put them first.
We all have different viewpoints, different ways of getting something done, different beliefs. So long as your students are learning and my students are learning, let's move on.
We are professionals. We don't always all have to like one another. I'm not disillusioned enough to believe that everyone is gonna be best friends. But we need to respect one another. We need to not make anyone feel inferior to us.

Bullying is an ugly word in my classroom. We don't use it lightly. We don't say that someone is a bully just because they pushed someone that one time they were mad. We don't call someone a bully when they laugh at something silly and it accidentally hurts someone's feelings. Those things make them human. They make us all human; we make mistakes.

But I'm talking about the continuous tearing down of other teachers (of other people) without any regard for how they may feel. People who create negative work environments by their repeated negative actions. Those are the bullies. And it makes my teacher heart ache... because if you can't spot it when you yourself is headed down the path of becoming a bully, how are you supposed to teach children to recognize and rectify their actions when they are becoming a bully?

We should be focused on building each other up. We should be offering help, without offending the way that someone does something. We should be focused on our students and bettering their education. So teachers (all of you), I beg you to stop for a minute. Take a deep breathe. Think about something positive that has happened at work so far in 2017. Put a smile on your face. And go find another teacher to compliment. They could really need it right about now and you may not even know it.

To all the hard working teachers out there, you've got this. You are amazing. You are bigger than the teacher bullies and the negative vibes you may be feeling right about now. Just hang on for a little while longer, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Also, everyone needs to go read Simply Kinder's post on Teacher Bullies; it's bookmarked to my school laptop!