Good teachers rock. The end. 

I could really wrap up this post right here and rest easy with those three words. However, this is a blog and not Instagram so please allow me to continue.

My mother, sister and husband are teachers so I am more than familiar with the time and resource sacrifice that comes with being an educator. In witnessing their actions, and those of their teacher friends, I have been a spectator as they guided students (who were the first in their family to even consider applying for college) through the application process step by step. I’ve heard more than one story about prom dresses being purchased. I’ve seen lunch money being given, Christmas gifts being donated and counsel doled out year after year. I’ve seen scholarships established and funded, relationships with students lasting decades and lives changed.

I know one woman who never played a sport past sixth grade but coached a high school soccer team because her school was otherwise going to be without a coach. Honestly, I would’ve paid GOOD money to see that season play out in person. As a child in the early 90’s, the only thing this teacher, my sis, knew about soccer was she “couldn’t play unless her Umbro shorts coordinated with her shirt.” However, knowing those girls would be up a field without a goal pushed her way out of her comfort zone and into the vacant role. If memory serves, she was compensated handsomely for the countless hours on the field after teaching long days in the classroom. I believe she got $300 for the entire season.

The selflessness and generosity of teachers should not come as a surprise to me. However, in this current season of life, the focus is not on my family and friends doling out to others. Quite the contrary. These days I am on the receiving end as I watch my own children changed by the tremendous generosity of their own teachers. 

In recent weeks I was humbled by the actions of my daughter’s teacher. It caused me to pause and take inventory of just how many random teacher acts of kindness I’ve witnessed in recent years. In the last year alone, my kids were impacted in countless tangible and intangible ways as their own teachers fought to improve the status quo in our school system:

Last spring our daughter was able to learn violin after her music teacher sought a grant that covered the instrument rental for a classroom of 25 third graders. The same music teacher leveraged that success into a program that now includes every single third grader at our school. 148 kids learned the violin this year. For free. Can you imagine teaching one student the violin, much less 148?!

There are now numerous students taking continuing lessons to pursue their violin interest. All because one woman chose to push the norm and seek out an area of opportunity for her students and the love of music. Kids who never would have touched an instrument in elementary school had a chance to learn, practice and perform. Whether they would become a violin virtuoso did not matter. The focus was the experience and opportunity for each child to participate in something beautiful. It has been a joy to watch this teacher, who happened to be my own elementary music teacher, share her love of music.

Our younger daughter is under the wing of a teacher who loves on her school kiddos all day long then leaves straight from the classroom to run a non-profit that allows the creative arts to be lived out and loved by the youngest members of our community. Little and not so little kiddos are able to sing and dance and craft and create and participate in theatrical productions and work clay and charcoal and generally be amazingly artsy. Even more humbling, she has taken her gifts to areas of our outlying community where theatrical productions would otherwise not happen due to financial constraints. This particular teacher continues to build this organization in the midst of her abundant spare time. By abundant I mean she and her husband, another teacher in our community, both work full time and raise three very active teenagers. I’m fairly certain they get the award for best use of 24 hours in a day. I have no idea when or if she sleeps. Yet she greets her kids with enthusiasm and a big smile every day. 

Our son is educated by a teacher who exudes such warmth and kindness that our child gets frustrated if anyone dares disrespect her. (I am waiting for him to feel the same about his own mother.) She treats her students with individual kindness and her students feel recognized,  heard and understood. This teacher messaged several times this year to let parents know about activities she wished to implement after completing further training and research. She, like most teachers, was able to do this continuing education during an all expense paid conference in Hawaii.

Or not.

As most other educators, she took her own limited free time to learn new techniques to further engage her students. Simply for the love of the job and her students. Her excitement for keeping things fresh and fun has transferred to her students. My son is quick to tell me about his classroom experiences, including the opportunity to meet the high school pen pal he has corresponded with all year. His teacher orchestrated this writing exercise with local teenagers at our local high school. These letters have been a source of entertainment and pride for months and he was thrilled to finally meet his pen pal! His teacher is always looking for ways to bend to the interest of her students. In my son’s words, she is a “beacon of positivity!”

Our daughter is blessed by a teacher who runs a special social media site/club where he works daily, like clockwork, to educate parents on how to keep their calm while also instilling confidence in their kids. My child and I are both lucky winners in this scenario as I’m able to start my day with wise words and she is able to learn under his tutilage. Win-win.

This same teacher took his free evening to come to the theatrical production held at the community arts center headed by the other teacher I mentioned. He missed an evening with his own child to support four kids in his classroom who extolled their budding dramatic talents (never in short supply in our home) in a stage version of Annie. My daughter and her friends “could not believe he was in the audience!” His presence at this event will not soon be forgotten. If ever.

I am privileged to know teachers across the country who work in inner cities and small communities, privileged schools and Title 1 schools, gifted and talented programs and special needs classrooms. Across the board, regardless of student or location or school mascot, there is one underlying commonality. These best of the best teachers continue doing what they do for the benefit of those they teach and serve and care for and worry about and educate and instill confidence and love and nurture and coach and instruct.

Maybe that’s why their pay continues to be so lousy. The law makers and bill payers know regardless of compensation, the best of the best will continue their work. They’ll still put in the long days and push for change and strive for progress for the benefit of their students. 

To Mrs. Chandler and Mrs. Boris and Mrs. Lafferty and Mrs. Dixon-Reed and Mr. Lendy and Mrs. Minton and Mrs. McAtee and Mr. Deutsch and Ms. Ellis and Mrs. Lance and Mrs. Gilles. To all the other teachers who taught my kiddos but weren’t their ‘assigned’ teachers.

To the teachers working bus duty in six degree temps. To the teachers working the concession stand at after school events.

To the teachers who take the stories they hear from my kids about their home life with a grain of salt.

To the teachers who spend their days educating our kids and their evenings prepping to do the same all over again the next. Day after day.

To the teachers who spend their own money on school supplies and carry concerns over troubled students home with them each night.

To the teachers who leave their classroom and don’t head home for relaxation but rather to an athletic field, student council meeting or debate club as they continue nurturing kids.

To the teachers who spend their free time supporting their students by attending plays, cheering at sporting events, judging academic decathlons. 

To the teachers who buy prom dresses and meals and pay tuition and give lunch money.

To the teachers who, despite the long hours and less than stellar pay, continue to give of themselves for the benefits of their students.

To you, dedicated teachers, we owe a huge debt of gratitude. For your care, your kindness, your selflessness and dedication, we say thank you.

 

Teacher Appreciation Week 2019 begins May 6th. Tag and thank a teacher who went above and beyond in your life. 

 

For more information on the fantastic Confident Kids Club mentioned above, check out the Facebook page below:

https://theconfidentkidsclub.com/

If you’re in southern Indiana, you need to be aware of The Foundry Center for the Arts. Featuring music and art lessons of all kind, they allow budding young artists to blossom.

https://foundryarts.org/

**Last but not least, here’s my soap box warning: I think most of us agree teachers are woefully underpaid. (If you’re of the “they actually get pretty good pay considering they get FOUR whole months off each year” variety, I won’t waste my breath. Or my typing fingers. Please scroll away from this site and on to the next point of interest on the world wide web.)

As a point of further pain and embarrassment, our home state of Indiana is last in the country for pay increases in the last twenty years. DEAD last. It’s disgraceful and I continue to wonder how we, in good conscience, justify the gross overspending and overpayment in a variety of areas but cannot adequately pay our teachers.

While this post isn’t about teacher pay, if you’re also dissatisfied, I suggest, implore, humbly beg you to head to your State Rep/ Senator and make your voice heard. I’ll cheer you on all the way! **