Boom.

One of the many things I love about Omaha is Film Streams. Sure, as a member of their Education Committee, I’m biased, but truly, they bring some amazing films to the city. Tonight, that film was Louder Than A Bomb.

The movie is about a poetry slam contest in Chicago, but it’s not about winning. It’s about kids who care about writing and performing. It’s about kids choosing better lives for themselves.

Most poignant to me was that their teachers were on the periphery of these students’ stories. They supported and guided, but this wasn’t a film about the teachers, this was a film about the kids. And when that realization hit me, that’s when I started to cry. For the first time since I returned to teaching, no longer coaching speech, I missed it. I missed my kids, missed seeing them realize they could do hard things, missed how crazy they made me, missed how proud they made me.

And I thought of all the people who often tell me that I should quit my job, that I could make so much more money doing anything else, or who don’t quite understand why I work so hard. I want them all to see this movie, because seeing what those kids could do…it’s the best way I could ever explain why I love teaching so much.

So if you’re one of those people who just can’t understand why anyone would teach, check out this exceptional film, and maybe you’ll get an inkling of why the good teachers stay, when they know they are underpaid and overworked, yet keep fighting the good fight. We do it for the chance to see just one student do something extraordinary.