If you are a parent of school-aged children, then chances are good that at some point during the last two years you were forced to become your kids’ teacher/teacher’s aide when schools switched to virtual instruction as a result of the pandemic. If so, you likely gained an appreciation for how challenging it can sometimes be for a teacher to help a child grasp new concepts.
Now imagine trying to teach new concepts to over twenty or thirty students in a single classroom while simultaneously managing their behaviors, working one-on-one with students who are struggling, and challenging high-achievers.
Classroom teachers are busy making lesson plans, assigning and grading classwork, reading rough drafts, administering tests, preparing for mandatory state assessments, attending meetings and professional development trainings, and completing countless other daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks, too.
Oh, and please don’t forget that your child’s gentle and nurturing kindergarten teacher is required by the state to undergo active shooter training every year so she can keep your child from being killed by a gun-wielding lunatic hellbent on slaughtering innocent children.
During those early days of pandemic-necessitated alternate methods of instruction (AMI), I constantly heard parents making comments such as, “My kid’s math lesson nearly killed me. I don’t know how his teacher does this day in and day out with a room full of students.” Social media posts often referred to teachers as heroes, saints, or angels on Earth. And rightly so.
Gradually, as pandemic-fatigue took hold, teachers became the victims of parents’ frustrations. Scapegoats. Angry about mask mandates and quarantines, some parents began to blame teachers for district policies. I know teachers who have been yelled at or mocked by irate parents who disagreed with health measures put into place by district and government officials to keep students and staff safe.
In the eyes of some parents, teachers went from heroes to villains in less than two years. Believe me, even if you have not personally treated your child’s teacher this way, someone else probably has, and our professional educators deserve much, much better.
Teachers ARE heroes. They deserve to be treated as such. They deserve our praise, our support, and our appreciation—not our scorn.
This is National Teacher Appreciation Week, and after everything teachers have endured over the last couple of years, each of us has a duty to tell our kids’ teachers how grateful we are to them for the work they do.
You can give your child’s teacher a gift card as a token of your appreciation. Starbucks and Panera are great for coffee-drinking teachers. Target and Walmart gift cards are always welcome because teachers spend quite a bit of their own money buying school supplies for their students. And believe me, a brand-new pack of dry-erase markers or an electric pencil sharpener are gifts guaranteed to make a teacher feel appreciated.
Of course, the easiest and best way to make a teacher feel appreciated is to simply tell them, “Thank you for all that you do for my child. I know your job is not easy, and I just want you to know that I appreciate you.”
Although teachers are superheroes, they are also human. They feel the relentless pressure of meeting state standards, creating an engaging learning environment, and providing each of their students the best education possible. When school boards, administrators, and/or parents put undue pressure on them, teachers suffer. When teachers suffer, so do students, and so does society in general.
Please take a moment this week to let your child’s teachers know how much you appreciate them. In a chaotic world full of uncertainty, fear, intolerance, and hate, it is more important than ever to let educators know that they are valued. Without the contributions of dedicated educators such as the ones we have here at Southern Boone, what hope would there be for our children’s future?
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