Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10, 2013.
So if you can read this thank a teacher. Teachers come in all forms; from parents, older siblings, friends, grandparents, and the more traditional teachers.
I don’t teach for the money. I could find other jobs that pay much better and have easier hours than what I have now. I know that people have the idea that all teachers spend the summer doing nothing but many of us spend summers with all the appointments that we don’t have time for during the school year, workshops, and new staff developments. I generally have about one week that is actually summer vacation. Many of us work longer than we are required and take work home with us.
In working with and having friends that are teachers in other countries, I know that this is something that many teachers do around the world. There are always a few that leave early every day and seem to do no outside work but for the majority of us we work long hours and do plenty of outside work. We seem to spend most of our lives being teachers.
I, like most teachers, enjoy teaching and working with kids. There is something special when you see that they finally “get” or accomplish something. Yes, there are times when I am frustrated beyond belief at a student, their home life, or when we are told this new program will solve all of our problems.
I spend a lot of time frustrated with the paperwork and the ever changing rules. As soon as I figure out one computer program or new testing method, it changes. Some of these programs are just the newest version and they do make things easier but so much of the testing doesn’t accurately reflect what my students have learned or are capable of doing.
I have moments when I wonder if I am accomplishing anything. In these down moments I wonder if I should be teaching or if I should do something else. Without fail, whenever I have one of these moments I am contacted by a former student. Sometimes, these are those perfect students, the ones that never did anything wrong and were a joy to teach. More often than not, I have had students that struggled, the ones that traditional education settings don’t best serve, come back to visit. These are the students that were frequently in trouble and you feel that never learned anything. In the past year I have had two young men stop by my room and tell me how much they appreciated me and being in my class, they told me that they felt that I cared for them and they actually told me things that they had learned in my class six years ago.
So to my students thank you for the words of encouragement. You don’t know how much they were appreciated. I think that is the best gift that I have received.
To my fellow teachers, what was the best gift that you have received?
