New School Year Resolution - Have a Voice

Published on Medium and AFT Schoolhouse Voices
August 21, 2015

by Wendy L. Doromal

Every year I look forward to the new school year with anticipation. To me the new school year represents an opportunity to guide students to develop their passions and to build a bridge from the classroom to the community.

Students enrolled in my service learning classes study some of today’s important social justice issues ­­– homelessness and poverty, immigration, human trafficking, and nonviolence. They take the knowledge that they learned in the classroom and apply it in the community while working with dozens of partners and nonprofits. Service learning allows students to have a voice as active citizens today and sets a foundation for a lifetime of civic engagement. Each year it is exciting to witness students find their individual and collective voices that can be heard beyond the four walls of our classroom.

AFT provides an opportunity for teachers to have a voice, to collaborate and to work together so that every teacher has the tools and resources needed to ensure that all students reach their highest potential. Our union’s strength depends upon every individual member’s voice.

This school year we must commit to being heard beyond the walls of our schools. Our voices must be expressed in letters to the editor, at school board meetings, in our statehouses, and in our nation’s capital. Our united voice must rise above the voices of those who profit from our profession and work to silence the voices of the teachers. This new school year I am committed not just to my students, but to joining all of our union’s brothers and sisters in Orlando, in Florida and across the nation to speak loudly and proudly to take back our profession.
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