There’s a multitude of problems facing Oklahoma teachers. Staff shortages, low pay and state mandates on what can and can’t be taught in the classroom. Some people still want to be teachers, just not in the Sooner State.
Jolly Meadows is a teacher. A teacher that teaches future teachers. Meadows is an education professor at the University of Tulsa. Meadows took a moment in her class to discuss the special sauce that makes teaching fun.
“Nothing can take your creativity away from you in the classroom,” Meadows said.
The statement hung in the air.
A lot of things in Oklahoma seem to go against this thought, like a recent state mandate to teach the Bible. State Superintendent Ryan Walters issued the mandate over the summer that students between 5th and 12th grades must now incorporate the Bible into lesson plans.
The mandate caused TU education student Cadence Pruitt some consternation.
“I strongly believe that the Bible should not be taught in public schools,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt is a senior originally from the St. Louis area. Despite enjoying her time in Tulsa, Pruitt’s leaving Oklahoma after graduation partially due to teaching mandates.
“If you’re pushing one religion on very impressionable children, um, I feel like it’s just a dangerous situation,” Pruitt said.
Some of these private college students will eventually step into a public school classroom. Some of them already have, like Evelyn Herring.
“When I was teaching 5th grade specifically, I taught some science lessons,” Herring said. “They had no idea what I was speaking about, and it was very basic level, you should know this by second or third grade.”
Recently Tulsa Public Schools has made a big push to improve literacy and even got a $60 million federal grant for that purpose. The push has come with success. Herring said the initiative to improve reading in schools makes sense, but a severe focus on one subject can leave a child less knowledgeable on another subject.
“What we’re really focused on is reading. We have so many students that cannot read and so we’ve really been on the push for reading. So, other subjects like, specifically science, have been pushed back because that is a lot of interaction and not a lot of reading,” Herring said.
It’s a small sample size, but of the five TU education students I spoke with for this story only one said they would stay in Oklahoma.
Caiden Catcher is a born and bred Tulsan with family ties to the education profession. Catcher’s mom works as an assistant principal at Jefferson Elementary School.
“My mom made me love teaching. I love teaching, I really do. But I also get a really close insight to what is going on and what the problems are.”
Lack of funding and low pay are two problems Catcher has with teaching in Oklahoma. The numbers back him up.
The minimum starting salary for a teacher in Oklahoma is approximately $40,000 per year according to the Oklahoma State Department of Education. That’s more than $4,000 below the national average for a teacher’s starting wage.
Oklahoma also ranked near the bottom of funding per student according to the National Education Association.
The numbers look grim. It’s difficult for Catcher to see a future teaching in his hometown.
“I would love to teach here, but at the current rate the state is going, I’m not entirely sure that’s something I can do long-term,” Catcher said.
Even long-time teachers don’t know if they’d make the same choice today that they did before.
Shawna Mott-Wright is the president of Tulsa’s teachers' union. She’s dedicated her life to teaching but doesn’t believe she’d make it if she was just starting out.
“I feel called and compelled, and I always want to do what I feel I was made to do, but apart from that, no I wouldn’t have,” Mott-Wright said. “And that’s a shame, because I can’t imagine not having taught my kiddos.”
Teachers have lesson plans in place, but TU Professor Jolly Meadows explained to her classroom of future teachers that a big part of teaching isn’t on a lesson plan.
“The true creativity of teaching and what happens with your students in those classrooms, we call it the magic that takes place,” Meadows said. “(Teaching) happens with you, with your brain and your creativity and how you are getting your messages over to your students. I want you to always remember that when you get your key to your classroom.”
Young teachers go through a lot in class; unfortunately, for future Oklahoma teachers, some of the biggest problems they face are outside the classroom.
