Teacher Walk Out: Happenings

This week, in Oklahoma, our teachers have walked out of our schools. I, myself, am included in this walk out, as our school district fully supports its teachers. Teachers are begging for an adequate pay raise for ourselves, support staff, and increased funding for our students. Sadly, our legislatures aren't doing much, but we're still fighting. 

Sunday evening, we spent some time making posters in support of our teachers. 

Monday morning, the girls and I got up and headed to meet other teachers at our school, and we were ready for some good ol' fashion, street corner protesting. 

Unfortunately, it was freezing cold. 

We warmed up when some sweet people brought us hot chocolate. 

After almost two hours, I knew that it was time to head home. The girls were freezing and becoming tired of not having much to do, and we really needed to warm up. 

We came home, turned on the fire, cranked up the heat, curled up in blankets, and watched the noon news. And look! Our teachers were on the news! Gretchen said we should've stayed longer, because she wanted to be on TV too ;) 

The girls had after school activities that night, so we weren't able to head back out to protest, but we did drive by and show our support to our teachers! 

This entire walk out has been an eye opening experience for me, and hopefully for our state. I know how over worked and underpaid our teachers are. I know how over crowded my children's classrooms are. I know that as a school speech pathologist, my caseload is growing larger, we have district SLP job openings, with no one to fill them, and for having a masters degree, i'm grossly underpaid. The time is NOW, Oklahoma, to make some changes. 

Since, this walk out directly affects my career, and my children's education, we knew that it would be important to teach the girls about the legislature, state government, and peaceful protests. DJ took off on Wednesday, and we loaded up and headed to our states capitol. 

Our girls were ready to rally support for their teachers with their signs. 

We ran in to Gretchen's teacher, and chatted with a few co workers, before taking off to explore some more. There were very long lines to get in to the capitol, so we knew that we wouldn't be able to wait and get inside with the girls. But, we did meet Captain America. 

We stopped and listened to the speakers that were speaking, and were treated to a few songs by Thaddeus, who was a contest on this season of American Idol, and from Oklahoma. 

My shirt, says it all, "because, Kids". We're walking out for our kids. Our students. Our future. 

We found a dinosaur, and the girls thought that was fun. 

As we walked, we tried to explain how the legislatures work, we read signs, and talked about peaceful protesting. 

We stopped where some people were gathered, over the interstate, and let the girls watch demonstrators holding their signs, and listen to the cars honking as they drove by in support. 

We headed back to the car, and drove to OKC's Bricktown district for lunch, and ate at Bourbon Street Cafe. DJ and I lived in Louisiana for a year, and we fell in love with cajun food- our crab queso, and dinner dishes didn't disappoint. 

DJ had crawfish étouffée, and I had stuffed shrimp. 

Then we walked along the canal. 

As we headed back to the car, we came across this mural that said, "Oklahoma's Tomorrow". How fitting was that for our day? While, our girls may not always live in Oklahoma, I have a feeling they'll always call this place home. It's where they've lived for 7 years, and all they've really known. 

After lunch, we headed to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. DJ has always wanted to go, as he and I both remember the day the Federal building was bombed.  

The museum is in a building nearby where the federal building was located. Looking out, the building sat behind the row of trees. 

This is the survivor tree, as it's the only tree on the grounds that survived the bombing. 

The museum was gut wrenching. Hearing stories from survivors, parents that were trying to locate their children from the daycare located in the building, hearing from rescue workers, and knowing that on that day, so many people lost their lives. The babies. The precious babies. As a mom, that is so hard to hear. 

But, the grounds were breath taking, in an awe inspiring, gorgeous way. The memorial is perfection. 

Each chair represents a victim from that day. 

Outside of the museum, was a small area where the girls could play with sidewalk chalk. 

Megan and Adalyn wrote their names. 

This tile memorial of children's drawings was precious. 

And Gretchen wrote her sentiments as well. 

We finally headed back to the car and towards home, but our GPS diverted us since traffic was backed up. We happened upon Pops on Route 66.

I had heard about Pops from friends traveling to and from OKC, but had never known where it was, so it was fun when we happened upon it. Adalyn had already fallen asleep, but we woke her up so we could go inside and see what the fuss was about. 

All of the walls were lined with old fashioned soda pop, and they sold several varieties. 

We let the girls pick out a juice, Gretchen picked out a root beer, and then we headed home. 

It was a long day in OKC, but we were so glad we were able to make it a fun, educational day. 

Our school has been canceled for the remainder of the week, so we don't know what the future will hold for our teachers and students in Oklahoma. We'll continue to show up for our teachers and co-workers, and we'll continue to let our legislatures hear our voice.