Thank a Teacher

I was reminded the other day of why I do what I do. I was sitting in my office at the end of the day when there was a knock on my door. A woman popped her head in and asked if I had a minute. She looked vaguely familiar and I invited her in. So, the woman said to me, "I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Mary's mother." It turns out that she was the parent of a student I had last year. Mary was a very quiet child, always wanted to please and do well, she was just having a little trouble making sense of what she was reading. I had only met the mother once, at Parent-Teacher conferences. With as much as most parents have to work and have other commitments these days, that's about all the time I get to spend with them.

Well, Mary's mom went on to tell me how wonderfully Mary is doing this year in fourth grade. She loves to read and she always gets top marks. In fact, she has just been identified as Gifted in Reading!!! What a wonderful success story!! But it doesn't end there. Mom went on to say, "We are so grateful for everything you did for Mary last year. She wouldn't be where she is if it weren't for you. Thank you so much! We owe it all to you." WOW!! Those are words that teachers live for. Those are words that revitalize and renew your spirit and dedication for the job you love.

I love kids. I love teaching kids. I wanted to be a teacher ever since the second grade when I got to help some Kindergartners with their Reading and Math. I never considered another career. Even my part-time job in the summers was teaching in some capacity. I was one of the few people I knew who never changed their major in college. Unfortunately, the teaching profession has gotten a lot more complicated since the day I decided to become a teacher.

There are a lot more hoops to jump through these days. State standards, standardized tests, district and building initiatives, acronyms of all kinds. A lot of the fun has been taken out of teaching and out of learning. Every activity that we do with our students has to fit one of the state standards. I want my children to succeed as much as the next parent, but kids aren't allowed to just be kids any more. They have high-stakes testing at earlier and earlier grades every year. Children who have recently entered the United States and children who have learning or mental disabilities are held to the same performance standards as the "average" child of the same chronological age. Teachers are no longer able to come to work, write their lesson plans, teach the students, grade papers. We also have to continue our own professional development by attending workshops and taking college classes, getting our Master's Degrees. We have to develop a plan that tells how we are going to complete our professional development, attend staff meetings, parent-teacher conferences, and after-school activities that our students take part in. Every time we turn around there is some new teaching or learning initiative that we are expected to embrace and jump into with both feet.

Many times we have to pick up the slack from parents who feel that once a child comes to school, they aren't responsible for their education. We also have to fill the gaps for parents who just don't know how to parent. I've had way too many children come to school without having had breakfast, with holes and rips in his pants, uncombed and unwashed hair, smelling of cigarette smoke or body odor. A child (or parent) whose idea of a "healthy snack" is a bag of potato chips that she takes a little from each day for her snack time. Or the child who has been diagnosed with neurological difficulties, but because the parents refuse to give her medicine for it, she gets no treatment at all. We are also in the business of Character Education these days. Teaching "please" and "thank you", responsibility, perseverance, courage, self-control, cheerfulness, wisdom, caring, fairness, trustworthiness and respect.

Do we get to experience the thankfulness and praise that Mary's mom showed me? Sometimes. But unfortunately, those experiences are few and far between. I get a handful of "Thank Yous" at Christmas and at the end of the year through little gifts the children bring me. But more often than not I get to hear, "How nice it is that you only have to work 9 months out of the year but you get paid for 12." For those of you who actually believe that we get a 3-month paid vacation, here's how it really works. We are paid for 182 days of work. But since 182 days of work would leave us without paychecks in the summer, the wonderful people at the District Treasurer's Office take our salary and divide it over 24 paychecks (that's two per month) so that we all don't have to get jobs during the summer to pay our rent. Instead we can use that time, time that is our own and that we aren't paid for, to take classes of our own and to expand our professional knowledge. Or, spend some quality time with our families that we don't get to do during the school year because we are working late after school or coming in on weekends to write lesson plans, communicate with parents, grade papers or attend various school functions.

Well, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my school. Our wonderful Parent-Teacher Organization has planned a different activity every day to show us that they appreciate the work that we do every day. If you have school-age children, take a moment to send their teachers a card to let them know you appreciate them. If you live down the street from a teacher, take a moment while you are both at your mailboxes to say thanks. If you have ever had your life influenced by a teacher, let them know that they made a difference for you. We don't need candles, gift certificates, body lotion, or little apple knickknacks. Just a "Thank You" will do.