Tattoos on teachers. It is a touchy subject. Some schools allow it, others do not allow it. So, the only time anyone brings up my tattoos is when they are exposed at work, whether it be students, teachers, or administration. My teacher rule: do not show unless you are ready to tell.

You see, the other day our school’s secretary decided to ask me what most potential (tattooed) teachers want to know: Do I show my Tattoos at school?

Frankly, if one has to ask that question then I say “No” because if you do not already know the answer, chances are that you are not ready to show and tell your ink to students, parents, teachers, admin, and staff. This is probably the best thing to do if you want to be respected in your profession.

“But I want to show my students that you can still be different, artsy, and still be professional…” Truuuuue, BUT do you want them to remember you as Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms. Tattooed Teacher or Mr. Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms. Teacher who had tattoos. Do you see the difference There?

“I want them to see me as their teacher.” As they should. So, if a question about whether your tattooed should be exposed is a concern, I say cover up, let them see who you are as a teacher, before exposing the badass ink that makes them go, “Whoa.” Because I hate when I point to the board and then ask the students whether they have questions and it gets interrupted with: “How long did it take to get your tattooes?”

My reality: As a Substitute Teacher I kept my ink covered, my classroom management skills strong, my professionalism on peak, and their students accountable. I built my reputation as Ms. ClassroomChaos. I did the same when a school decided to hire me. It was not until the California sun decided to heat up the coast that I decided to expose my tattoos and by that time I knew how to answer questions, redirect students distracted by my tattoos, and spoke honestly and sincerely of the stereotypes, discrimination, and challenges because of them.

See, everyone has ink stories. How we tell it, depending on our audience, makes all the difference.

Arming yourself…

And I am not talking about guns here. I am talking about planning my lessons well enough to arm myself with enough evidence to justify my reasons for giving a student a “0” on an assignment to a parent who sends me an email about the said assignment.

It is currently 6:03am. I spent an 1.5 hours since I woke up dedicating my time to type a thorough email justifying my grade, attaching documents, and redirecting the parent to look at her child’s Google Classroom (bless you, Google Classroom). And I also write the information on the White Board and take a picture of the board so I can attach it to the email.

But if I provided a student all this information to earn them a grade and the conversation goes like this:

ME: Do you have your summary?

STUDENT: No.

ME: Are you going to present?

STUDENT: No.

Then, c'mon Mom, that IS a sure “0” right there!

And so, I am behind on getting ready for the first day of the Final exam. But I am glad I was able to send a parent a copy of the reading schedule, rubric, a detailed explanation of the project (broken down by point value), AND an online copy of the book (unless this kid says he lost his book or something, you never know).