I Appreciate a Teacher

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. I’m married to a Teacher (pictured above teaching during the Pandemic in a tent while the kids on the other end of the remote learning were also in a tent). If you think you appreciate Teachers, my bet is you don’t appreciate them enough. If I wasn’t married to a Teacher, I’d probably think my level of appreciation was more than enough. It wouldn’t be.

ALERT: If you’re the type of person that doesn’t appreciate Teachers, the type that thinks they get paid too much and their Union is too protective, or you’re the type that thinks they get paid too much or that their job is easy …STOP …READING …NOW. Seriously. Go away.

Teachers who care, which is the majority of them (I know this because I interact with my Teacher-Wife’s co-workers and peers and have for 27 years), are angels on Earth. Teachers should be paid more (which still wouldn’t make them wealthy or among the 2-percenters or 1-percenters). Teachers should be treated with the level of respect we give to first-responders, doctors, active and veteran military, and healthcare workers. 

If even half of all teachers care as much as my wife, and work as hard as she does, then half the nation’s children are in great hands. And I bet 80-90% of teachers care and work as hard as my wife. People don’t go into teaching for the glory and the money. Because there isn’t any glory and, really, nobody’s getting rich. 

My wife’s been a teacher for 27 years. She’s taught 2nd Grade, Early Reading, a few other Elementary aged grades, and now she teaches Middle School Math. I’m not saying Middle School kids are monsters, but I’m not, not saying they aren’t monsters.

Have you ever been to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese? Or have you volunteered to coach a team or chaperone an event? Now, imagine doing that every day for 6 or 7 hours (instead of the 1 or 2 hours at a party or sports-related event). And, imagine what you’re asking the kids to do is not eat cake, play games, run around, and have fun and instead, the kids do not want to do what you want them to do and some of them actually hate it.

Sounds fun, right?

Have I convinced you to appreciate teachers more?

What do you do for a living? If you work in an office, chances are, you can spin your chair around and talk to another adult. At any time you want. Maybe you can look up from your spreadsheet and say, to another adult, “hey? lunch plans” and then you and co-workers can run out to lunch. Or at 2 o’clock in the afternoon you can be like, screw this, I’m gonna take a walk and grab a Starbucks. You can probably jump on the Internet and browse stuff.  Five minutes here. Five minutes there. You can probably look at your phone and text or scroll a little on social media to clear your mind whenever you want.

Ya know who can’t? Teachers can’t, that’s who. They start their day locked in a room with kids …oh …right …nowadays they are “locked in” because of guns and active shooters and they’re all trained on what to do in an active shooter situation. Do you have active shooter drills ongoing at work? Me neither.

Back to the “locked in a room with kids who don’t really want to learn Algebra, European history, or how to conjugate a verb.” It’s thankless. Maybe …just maybe …kids come back years later when they are older and wiser and thank their teachers, but that’s rare.

Teachers correct papers (sometimes until late in the evening). Teachers do report cards. Teachers make lesson plans. Teachers host parent-teacher conferences. Teachers field Emails, texts, and phone calls from parents (and not all of them are parents calling to say ‘good job’ and ‘my kid loves you’). Teachers spend more time with your/our kids than you/we do. 

This is a love letter to my wife to say I notice. I see it all and am amazed at what she does. If I worked half as hard as she does, I’d probably be a millionaire. My wife only misses work if she’s one-step away from hospitalization. Her students can count on her to be there. To be fair. To be honest. Brutally honest at times, but honest. And she’s a very nice person if you’re a kid who works hard, tries, and is respectful. I hear about the kids who are a “delight” as much as the kids who are “tough.”

I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Like the fact my wife, and many teachers, care more about the kids than their own parents. It’s sad, but I’ve seen it. 

Do me a favor. If you know a teacher …text, call, or put something on their Facebook Wall (do we still have Facebook Walls?). If you know someone pursuing a degree in Teaching or Education, tell them how much you admire that. If you know a kid thinking about being a Teacher when they grow up, tell that kid that’s inspiring and that future kids would be lucky to have them as a Teacher. If you’re out to eat and see a Teacher eating at another table and you have the means …pay for their bill. Give your kid’s teacher a Staples or Target gift card …I would bet most will use it for something in the classroom. Never ignore an Email from your kids teacher. 

Bottom line …appreciate teachers. It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. Now’s a good time to start or add a little more appreciation on top of the appreciation you already show.

Thank you.