I’ve been reading things on the internet about the crisis in the teaching profession.

It think it’s on the internet. I really don’t know how all that works.

It’s something called LinkedIn. I’m reading it on my phone which I guess is an iPhone. It’s portable and I carry it around.

I open it up and there are entries where people talk about what’s on their mind, or products they offer at reduced rates, or “research” being conducted, or…

Things about education and teaching catch my eye.

After 23 years of retirement after 40 years in the classroom, teaching is still central to my life.

And now I see people, like motivational speakers, “discover” the “new” concern about teachers’ mental health, depression, the numbers in the millions leaving the profession. Charts show the graph over the three years of probationary service required before the clear credential is granted, and too many decide that if this is what teaching is, what’s required, it’s time to look for something else.

I remember a “study” some years ago that said, after air traffic controllers, teaching is the second most stressful occupation.

Been there, done that, know it well.

So my burning altruism again comes to the fore, and I want to do something, anything, to help support my beloved profession.

I’ve always said that we teachers can save the world.

The world needs saving. Especially these days of crisis.

And teachers need all the help and support they can get, because we need more of them, and we need to keep the dedicated competent teachers from burning out.

Partly, hence my blog.

As you’ve noticed, there’s a lot of teacher in many blog entries.

Personal experience, what I did, what was done to me, is interspersed with stories, partly biographical, that sometimes extrapolate but make a point with a cumulative effect.

And, encouragingly, there are people looking at the blog. It’s now risen to 68 countries where somebody is looking.

And I’ll keep adding blog entries. I’ve lived long enough to have accumulated experiences that are worth sharing.

And I’m scheming to do more.

I see notices about those mandatory inservices where teachers are required to attend.

How well I remember! Friends and I would sit in the back row and crack jokes while some overpaid roaming motivator would drench us in platitudes. We rebels would wait for lunch, and then get back to our classrooms where we could resume teaching.

I want to talk to today’s crop, the probationaries, the in-training still taking education courses. I want to distract them, not with lesson plans, not with vague bows to authority.

I want to say, “Here’s what I went through, how I survived. The highs (yes, many), the lows (yes, too many).

“You can too. Because the basic joy of teaching is the children themselves.

“And teachers, real teachers, banding together, holding hands, can weather the storms and yes, can save the world.”

So I guess I’m saying to the world at large, especially those institutions with whom I’ve had some contact, “I’m here, available, willing and able.

“I can’t promise I won’t put some people to sleep by my incessant verbiage. But I can promise to do my best to fill the time with sustenance.

“I can promise to provide an example, not the example.

“I can promise to tell a few jokes. I can promise to pose questions that instigate thought.

“When it’s sink or swim, I can teach swimming.

“I can promise that, though I’m not doing it for the money, if anyone wants to give me money, I’ll gladly take it.”

Meanwhile, there’s still the blog.