This week is teacher appreciation week, and to show our appreciation for those wonderful heroes every teacher everywhere is getting that week off with pay and going on a destination vacation of their choosing.
JUST KIDDING!
But wouldn’t it be nice if we could do something spectacular for all the teachers in our kid’s lives, or teachers who made a positive impression on our lives?
Teachers are underpaid and underappreciated and usually the first to be blamed for the issues that are going on in the school. As a mother, I will always have the teacher’s backs and usually ask “Is there any specific language we can use at home to reinforce what you’re saying in class?” Or “Is there anything we should be doing to help improve those skills at home?” Teachers more often than not spend their own money on school supplies for their classrooms, because the supplies run out by Thanksgiving and instead of putting the burden on the parents the teachers provide it for their students. Teacher’s days don’t begin when they go into school, but they begin when they wake up worrying about the student who might not have a good breakfast, knowing it will affect how they do on their math test.
After a full day of teaching students, teachers are usually doing after school care until 5:30 or doing an activity such as drama or coaching soccer. More often than not, they aren’t being paid extra for it. Their day ends with concern for the student whose grandparent is dying and got home late from sitting at their grandparent’s bedside and didn’t have the energy to read a chapter for history. Teachers never stop. They always think of their students, even when they’re not at school because they know some kids are going home to an unloving environment or will be belittled at the dinner table for getting a B on their English paper instead of an A.
If it weren’t for the teachers at my daughters preschool she would still be afraid of her own shadow, but the teachers worked with her on introducing herself to kids on the playground. Her teachers reinforced using her words and not her hands when another student took the yellow piece of paper she wanted. Teachers go to see their students perform in the jazz band concerts at Six Flags, or drive 45 mins to the Football championship, or ask a student how their dance recital went. Teachers know siblings names (even if they aren’t in the class), they know who needs an extra hug when they sneezed one too many times, or who has separation anxiety and doesn’t do well at drop off, they know who doesn’t want to go home and wants to stay at extended day for an extra snack. Teachers know our kiddos almost as well as we do because they love our kids and want to see them excel.
Teachers aren’t just teaching our kids, they’re peacemakers, master negotiators, coaches, therapists, friends, and educators. They are unsung heroes, they deserve more respect and higher pay, but most of all, they deserve some recognition, more than one week a year. But one week a year is a start.
“Because I knew you…I have been changed for good”
We’ve all had a teacher who has changed us for the better. Who was yours?
