I often consider leaving teaching as a whole.

I am admittedly somewhat bitter that a professional degree that took five and a half years of my life has left me in basically unmanageable debt.

I am admittedly somewhat bitter that I could work in a credit card phone bank and secure an income comparable, if not better, than that I make in teaching.

Does it make me mad? Damn skippy it does.

Does it make me want to leave teaching?  Sometime it truly does.

Will I leave teaching? I honestly don’t know, but, at this point, I don’t want to.

Past all the bitterness and anger, it makes me want to incite change.

Change to make teaching a first-class profession in every way: Income, respect, clout, everything.

Will there always be nay-sayers? Of course. My office mate and I pass links to news forums about teacher pay back and forth to each other whenever we find them. We are constantly shocked at how much disdain people hold for teachers.

But I believe that can change. Teachers are not glorified babysitters, despite what some people believe. We are people who choose education because we love learning and want to pass that on to whomever we can.

I am ready to put myself out there as an advocate for teachers. I read about people accepting donations on blog for any number of reasons, some frivolous, some serious, and people donate.

A dollar here.

Maybe a ten there.

They donate.

They pass the word.

Can we do that for teachers?

My thought is this: If I can get some donations and pay off my student loans, maybe then I can start helping others…Advocating financial solvency for teachers and helping them find that independence earlier in their careers rather than later.

Here is what I need now…Help.

Help me figure out how to do this.

Help with with anything with which you think I need help: Design, marketing, fundraising, whatever.

Please.

Ever since I graduated from college, I have fretted about how to live my life with the burden of my student loan debt.

I have thought. I have daydreamed. I have prayed.

And I have watched movies.

Lots of movies.

My husband and I are big Steve Carell fans. We love The Office. LOVE IT.

We rarely wait more than a week or two after opening to see any of Steve’s movies.

Dan in Real Life? AWESOME.

The 40 Year Old Virgin? STRAIGHT HILARITY.

Little Miss Sunshine? GENIUS.

Loved them all.

Then we come to Evan Almighty, which was alright, but, in my singular opinion, WEAK.

Except…

Morgan Freeman as God.

And how do Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman relate to my student loan debt in any way?

I prayed. I prayed for answers. I prayed for money. I prayed for any sort of reprieve.

And this is where my friends Morgan and Steve come in…

There is a scene in Evan Almighty that plagued me from the time I saw the movie until I started this site.

Basically Evan (Steve) and God (Morgan) are talking about how God answers prayers.

And God says this:

“Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

And suddenly, it made sense.

Am I ever going to be graced with the fabled “Money Tree,” regardless of how much I pray for money?

Absolutely not.

But I’ll be given opportunities.

And ideas.

And, yes, this site is one of those ideas.

This is an idea that I couldn’t get past.

I thought about it.

I talked about it.

My husband, often a cynic, encouraged me daily.

So here I am, putting myself out there, asking for help and guidance.

And I believe that it will all come. It may take some time and it will take some effort, but it will all come.

Step by step and bird by bird.

I believe that if we can help teachers, teachers can help students.

And if we can help students, we can change the world.

Leaving you with one last Evan Almighty reference:

God: How do we change the world?

Evan: One single act of random kindness at a time.

So here is my theory, my challenge, my quest…

A few years ago I read an article about a woman who started a web page to collect donations to pay off her credit card debt.

And she did it. Multiple thousands of dollars in debt, paid off by the goodwill of strangers.

Bearing this in mind, I have often wondered if people would be so generous to teachers.

Sure, there are programs to donate supplies, books, etc. to classrooms, both to take some of the financial burden from the teachers and to help out students who may not be able to afford supplies.

And this is all wonderful.

Additionally, teaching is consistently among the most respected professions in America.

This, too, is wonderful.

But when it comes down to it, the level of respect given teachers does not equate to just wages. In some places it does not even equate to living wages.

Someone told me last week that one of the greatest challenges of teaching is making far less than most other people with the same level of education and still making it work.

While that sounds noble, it is hard. Many young teachers are living paycheck to paycheck, trying desperately to save a little money, all while managing the same expenses as many other people with comparable degrees and much higher salaries.

And many teachers are working more than one job to make ends meet.

Considering all of this, it is little surprise that as many as fifty percent of teachers leave the field within the first five years.

So I must ask why?

We supposedly live in a society where education and educators are highly valued and respected. So why aren’t they treated like it?

This is where we return to the woman who had her credit card debt paid off by the kindness of strangers.

Are there people out there who are willing to put there money where there mouth is?

How much do we value education and educators?

If we’re willing to pay off someone’s credit card debt, why aren’t we willing to help out teachers?

Here’s the thing: I think we are willing; we just need to find a way to do it.

And here’s where this diatribe comes full circle…

I am going to start taking donations to pay off my student loans.

Will it work?

Your guess is as good as mine.

But, once again, if we’re willing to pay off someone’s credit card debt, one would have to assume that we are willing to help get teachers out of educational debt and hopefully keep them in the profession.

I have hope, and hope is an amazing thing.

I figure that if I can collect enough donations to pay off my student loan debt, I will slowly start to open this forum up to others teachers, hopefully helping them find release from the burned of student loans, as well.

So this is where you come in…

If you claim to value education, put your money where your mouth is.

Send me the change from your car or couch.

Send me the money you’d spend at a coffee shop tomorrow morning.

Send me a dollar.

Send me whatever you see fit.

But more importantly, spread the word.

Maybe send a dollar, then forward this to anyone you think would want to help out a teacher.

When it comes down to it, this is all just an experiment on my part, but I believe I can make it work.

And if I can make it work for myself, I hope I can make it work for other educators.

I am a teacher.

And I am in debt.

Lots of debt.

I, however, have no credit card debt.

I own my car (a ‘94 Buick that just hit 200,000 miles last week).

My husband and I rent a modest apartment in a midwestern city of approximately 150,000.

So, you must be asking, where is the debt?

The debt is in the form of student loans.

Approximately one third of my monthly income goes to paying my student loans.

So what does this mean?

This means I am a teacher, a professional with a four-year degree and five years of professional experience, who cannot make ends meet, much less get ahead financially.

And now I am going to start looking for help.

Start looking for proof that people value educators as much as they say they do.

Start looking for some validation for myself and my fellow educators.

Where to begin…

My name is Annie.

I am a teacher.

And I am taking perhaps the biggest personal risk of my life by putting my story out for the world to read.