We Are Not Okay: Exposing the Hidden Violence of Teacher Workloads and Imagining More Humane Futures

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 7:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Holding On: Teacher Retention Amid Stress and Strain

Abstract

I am a 6th grade public school teacher, and I am not okay. My colleagues are not okay. We are barely surviving the crushing workloads and the relentless, growing demands of a system that treats teacher depletion and exhaustion as normal. This paper examines the hidden violence embedded in teacher labor: the normalized expectations of overwork, self-sacrifice, and invisibility that dehumanize the profession. Drawing from my lived experience and informed by critical theory, I use narrative and reflection to expose how these structures harm teacher well-being and identity. I then offer an invitation to imagine more humane futures for teachers. This roundtable opens space to reimagine what it means to truly humanize the labor of teaching.

Author

• Rashaun James, Columbus City Schools