I'm a teacher, not a police officer, and I won't carry a gun in class

My column from Saturday's Briefing:

The list of what I will do for my students — what most every teacher will do for her students — is long.

That list includes but is not limited to:

1. Repeat instructions as many times as necessary.

2. Explain one concept in three, four, five different ways.

3. Perform an impromptu interpretive dance of short prairie grass to illustrate a cause of the Dust Bowl.

4. Write a recommendation letter for private school admission.

5. Check forehead for possible fever.

6. Email mom with an important message that absolutely cannot wait until after school.

7. Help look for a retainer in the trashcan.

8. Open a locker that is impossibly jammed.

9. Cover an oozy wound with a bandage.

10. Read stories aloud with silly voices.

11. Methodically search a backpack for an essential item that is inexplicably missing.

12. Stay up late grading essays.

13. Stay up late double-checking plans for a new lesson.

14. Stay up late reading a student's favorite novel for a promised book talk.

15. Stay up late watching a student's favorite TV show because he relates all life experiences to that series.

16. Try to understand the demands of competitive cheer, dance, gymnastics, martial arts, hockey, wrestling and lacrosse.

17. Listen without speaking.

18. Offer hugs and high fives freely.

19. Walk a child to counselor's office while diverting attention so peers don't witness a breakdown in progress.

20. Workshop how to tell parents potentially disappointing news.

21. Model conflict management.

22. Make up a story about quotation marks protecting commas from birds of prey because students keep forgetting to place punctuation marks in the correct order.

23. Brainstorm ways to study for a quiz when every other way isn't working.

24. Research books and authors to find a title for the most reluctant of readers.

25. Reassure every child during an emergency drill that it's just practice in case of the unlikely event of fire, tornado or an intruder.

What I will never do: Carry a gun into my classroom.

I do not believe that the answer to gun violence is more guns.

I do not believe that my students will be safer if I am in possession of a firearm.

I do not believe that part of my professional development should be how to operate a firearm.

I chose teaching as my second profession because I am passionate about literacy, children and the health of my community. I'm finishing my fifth year now — far from a veteran — and have no regrets about my decision.

Yet there's no denying that teaching is emotionally exhausting work that never gets left behind. We worry about our current students and the babies from previous years. We consider how to reach each one individually, how to motivate them, how to offer effective feedback, how to push them without being too pushy, how to help them set goals and then reach them.

I'm 100 percent on board with that job description.

In the event that an intruder with bad intentions entered our sacred hallways, I would do everything possible to protect my students and all the students in the building. I would hide them, shush them, shield them. I would stand between any threat and those children.

I will not sacrifice my values — the same values that serve as a foundation for the culture of my classroom — and take up arms against another human.

We are right to hold teachers to a high standard. We are wrong to expect teachers — even a small portion of them — to become law enforcement officials as well.

Tyra Damm is a Briefing columnist. She can be reached at tyradamm@gmail.com.