This article originally appeared on Creators.As part of 50 States of Art, Creators is inviting artists to contribute first-person accounts of what it is like to live and create in their communities. Ms. P is a 3rd grade teacher at a Title I school in Indianapolis, Indiana. Creators became aware of her work through Shining Rainbows Supplies, an independent crowdfunding effort to purchase basic school supplies for her students.I am regretting having no make-up on, as I park and use the rearview mirror once more before seeing 13 year-old Sal and his momma who is named Sal, too. I hope she likes me. How will it go? After all, I am the teacher who put my hand on her son, pushing him back in his seat measuredly so he would lift his head and look at me. "You bitch," he declared loudly after that, in front of all my third graders. "My momma gonna take you down." He pulled his cell phone out of a frayed nylon bag serving as his backpack and called her.
It went all white-washed inside of me as I shakily walked to the room phone and requested immediate assistance. After a while, a Behavior Coach showed up to escort Sal out of my room. This burly sixth grader and two more like him were in my classroom—a room full of eight year olds—because once again, no substitute would stay in theirs to cover their teacher's sick leave.
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I'm a Teacher in Mike Pence's Broken School System—Here's How We Can Fix It
A third grade teacher at a Title I school shares what it’s like battling standardized testing and having to buy her own school supplies for students in Indiana.