Finding Courage Through Music

"Finding Courage Through Music"
Post By: Lisa Ellis

I am on a mission. I am on a mission on behalf of the educators and students of South Carolina. For too long, we have been set aside. Asked to do more with less. Expected to build without the proper tools. But no more.

I depended on others to see the problems and speak about them. I hoped that others would fight for what was best. But no more. 

I will not be set aside. I will not let my students be set aside. I will ask for more. I will expect the proper tools. I will depend on my voice. I will fight for what is best. 

But it's scary, and so to give myself courage, I listen to these songs. They remind me that I have a voice to make education better. I hope you will join me in using your voice to better public education in South Carolina. Need some courage? Try listening to these songs.

Glory
John Legend and Common
"Now we right the wrongs in history
No one can win the war individually
It takes the wisdom of the elders and young people's energy
Welcome to the story we call victory"

Rise Up
Andra Day
"You're broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry go round
And you can't find the fighter
But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out
And move mountains
And I'll rise up
I'll rise like the day
I'll rise unafraid
And I'll do it a thousand times again
For you"

We're Not Gonna Take It
Twisted Sister
"Oh we're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
Oh we're not gonna take it anymore
We've got the right to choose it
There ain't no way we'll lose it
This is our life, this is our song
We'll fight the powers that be"

Hall of Fame
The Script
"You could go the distance
You could walk straight through hell with a smile
You could be the hero
Do it for your people
Do it for your pride
How you ever gonna know if you never even try?"

My Shot

Hamilton Cast

"Rise up
When you’re living on your knees, you rise up
Tell your brother that he’s gotta rise up
Tell your sister that she's gotta rise up
I’m past patiently waitin'
I’m passionately mashin’ every expectation
Every action’s an act of creation
And I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
We’re gonna rise up (time to take a shot)"

What About Us
P!nk
"We are billions of beautiful hearts
And you sold us down the river too far
What about us?
What about all the times you said you had the answers?
What about all the broken happy ever afters?
What about all the plans that ended in disaster?
What about love? What about trust?
What about us?
We were willin', we came when you called
But, man, you fooled us, enough is enough"

We Weren't Born To Follow
Bon Jovi
"We weren't born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe
Believe that the sun will shine tomorrow
And that your saints and sinners bleed
We weren't born to follow
You gotta stand up for what you believe"

Praying

Ke$ha

"Oh, and after everything you've done
I can thank you for how strong I have become
'Cause you brought the flames and you put me through hell
I had to learn how to fight for myself
I'm proud of who I am
No more monsters, I can breathe again
And you said that I was done
Well, you were wrong and now the best is yet to come"

Immortals
Fall Out Boy
"Sometimes the only pay off for having any faith,
Is when it's tested again and again everyday,
I am the sand in the bottom half of the hourglass (glass, glass)
I try to picture me without you but I can't
'Cause we could be immortals, immortals
Just not for long, for long"

Anything's Possible

Lea Michelle

"I push to the limits
I climb every wall
I keep on believing
Anything's possible
I stand ten feet tall
I keep on believing
Anything's possible"

What songs give you courage? 

"Why I Am Leaving Teaching" by Elizabeth Bagnall

Five years. Five years of inspiring, listening, advising, hoping, helping. Five years of teaching. 

Today, I closed the door to my last classroom. Why? I couldn't take the realities of teaching anymore. I've worked at Title 1 schools. I've worked at affluent schools. I've worked in the city. I've worked in the middle of nowhere. It turns out that no matter where you go, public school is the same. Politics over pedagogy. Money over motivation. No, it's not the kids. I love the profession of teaching. I love working with kids. Genuinely. I know in my heart that being a teacher has been a blessing words cannot express. 

That being said, the politics of teaching is beyond what I can handle, silently. Some people can trudge through the battlefields of teaching. They keep their heads down and work within the system. For some reason, I just can't. I don't know why. I feel guilty for being, somehow, incapable of letting go of all the things I see wrong in today's education system. But today, as I closed my classroom door for the last time, I couldn't help but wonder: what's wrong with questioning the system of education? I don't hate educating. I hate today's version of "education". I hate the culture surrounding education. Teachers are not held in high esteem. Students are given low expectations. Administrators are more worried about graduation rates than preparing kids for the real world. 

When I started teaching, I saw education as the "key". The way to change the world is through teaching. In my heart, I knew that to be true. But after five years, the bureaucracy made me realize that the way to truly change things isn't in the classroom, at least not for me. I've spent five years putting my heart and soul into my classroom, just to watch myself become burned out, disenfranchised, bitter, and angry. And, it's not just me. Every teacher I know deals with "The Unnecessary Politics of Education". It is the reason why countless teachers leave the profession. I truly applaud the teachers who can look beyond the bureaucracy. They can keep their mouths shut and smile through the pain. And, it is painful. It hurts to know that you have put all these hopes and dreams into kids who are being totally screwed by the system. If all these really great teachers could stand up, band together, and come up with a real way to fix the system, education would be everything it's meant to be. Instead, those teachers who can survive the politics can't stand up for fear of retribution. They discuss it privately in closed-door classrooms. They go home and curl up with their significant others and complain about their woes. They roll their eyes when they are told to go against their ethics, but at the end of the day, they do as they are told. They stay silent in the name of their careers, their livelihoods, and their students. 

I wish I could. But, I just... can't stay silent. I'm too much like my grandmother. Once I've washed my hands of something, I'm done. I'm done watching an entire profession be minimalized and undervalued. I love teaching and I love good teachers, but I won't live in a world where people who work so hard have to bear such a heavy burden. It's going to take someone who can't keep their head down in order to make this system better for those who can. I wanted to change the world. Now, I know that, for me, changing the world isn't helping kids (though I'm thankful for that chance); my way to change the world is making the world better for teachers. Teachers deserve to be heard. They deserve to be respected. They deserve to have a voice that puts the needs of educating children before test scores and graduation rates. They deserve to have students who respect them, parents who appreciate them, and administrators who will look out for them and not the financial "bottom line". That is my new mission. 

To every great teacher I know, there's a battle brewing in the world of education. And, I'm going to be a champion.