Teaching: An Appreciation

Starbucks gift cards and two-for-one Chipotle burrito bowls are nifty, but they don’t do enough to give teachers the thanks and appreciation they deserve not only during Teacher Appreciation Week but all during the year. The outside world that views teaching as a profession that enjoys three-months of lazy summer vacation and 8-to-4 workdays hasn’t spent much time with teachers to see the reality. I’m preaching to the choir here, but teaching is hard, and teachers are superheroes. 

Indulge me, if you will, in a little appreciation of America’s most important profession and allow me to thank you for what you frequently thanklessly do. 

Thank you for opening your classroom doors and welcoming every student who walks in, even the ones who don’t wear deodorant, the ones who don’t want to be there and make that very clear by their every action, the ones who don’t get a lot of love elsewhere and seek attention in inappropriate ways, the ones who need help with things other kids their age don’t, the ones who can’t stay in their seats, the ones who challenge everything you say, the one who think it’s cool to complain, the ones who know which buttons to push to get a rise out of your, the ones who come with pages of daily paperwork requirements, and the ones whose parents demand a large chunk of your time and attention. 

Thank you for spending time planning and preparing for engaging instruction because—unlike many other professions—teaching isn’t one where you can show up without extensive prior preparation for the day. Thanks for conferring with colleagues and coaches, studying standards, and consulting curriculum to craft carefully-constructed educational experiences that not only take students where they need to go but get them pumped up about getting there. Thank you for knowing that teaching isn’t one-size-fits-all and for tailoring lessons to meet the variety of needs in your classroom. 

Thank you for teaching more than just content. Thanks for teaching young people how to get along with one another, to self-regulate, to set goals, to advocate for themselves, to organize their time and materials, to make smart choices, to “act right,” to question things, to treat others with respect, to solve problems, to stand up to injustice, to take responsibility for their own actions, to participate actively and appropriately in the wider community, and to pay attention to the world around them. Thanks for tying shoelaces on the playground, tying neckties on game day, and forging ties among students in your classroom.  

I appreciate your commitment to learning, personally and professionally. Teachers realize that we have never completely figured it out and that we must continue to grow as professionals, so we read books to improve our craft, attend trainings throughout the year and often during our summer “vacation,” engage in educational chats on Twitter, and form professional learning communities with colleagues. Most of that is without pay. A thank you isn’t really payment, but it’s what I can give you. 

The best teachers plant seeds that sprout during the year but don’t reach their full growth until much later. Thank you for having the vision to plant your garden and for the time and attention needed to water each seed, to provide the much-needed light, to support seedlings, to shape and redirect growth, and to continue to feed each one until it blooms. Thanks for the patience you show when it looks like a seed won’t sprout and for continuing to tend the garden until it does. 

Thank you for remembering what it’s like to be young. Teenagers are wonderful works in progress. Thank you for your patience, your grace, your humor, your coaxing, your flexibility—did I mention your patience?—your enthusiasm, your amnesty, and your kindness. 

Thank you for putting up with an ever-growing load of policies, procedures, paperwork,  requirements, hoops to jump through, forms to complete, expectations, hurdles, and initiatives that take you away from the work you want and need to be doing with your students. Thanks for realizing that these are put in place by well-meaning people who also want the best for kids but may have forgotten what is most important. Or maybe they didn’t realize that they aren’t the only one adding to your pile of things to do. At any rate, thank you for putting kids first and not letting the paperwork drive you out of the profession.   

Thank you for being the grown-up in the room. You may be the only one your students encounter routinely. 

Thank you for believing that a student’s experience out of the classroom is as important as what they do in the classroom. Thanks for the time you spend sponsoring clubs, attending games and performances, and taking part in students’ extracurricular lives. This often means extending your workday and adding to your to-do list, but students take notice. And it does make a difference. 

Thank you for every instruction you have patiently repeated, every parent phone call you have made, every positive note you’ve sent home, every second chance you’ve given, every third chance you’ve given, every word of encouragement you’ve provided for a student (or colleague) who has lost hope, every misbehavior you’ve redirected without losing it, every broken pencil and paper scrap you’ve picked up off the floor, every left-behind notebook you’ve placed on the whiteboard tray for later retrieval, every student handwriting sample you’ve matched to determine which of the two nameless papers belonged to which kid, every minute you’ve spent on hold with the help desk to reset a forgotten student login, every lengthy “guess what I did over the weekend” story you’ve listened to, and every constructive comment you’ve written on a paper when every part of you wanted to write something snarky and sarcastic.    

Thanks for coming early, staying late, working weekends, responding to e-mails at weird hours, and giving up your tiny lunch break to get everything done. Maybe you’re one of the super-efficient ones who can get it all done during the school day. Even if you’re not one of those, know that you are appreciated for your time and effort. 

Thank you for being a nurse, life coach, maid, babysitter, researcher, therapist, nutritionist, actor, director, mediator, politician, librarian, accountant, statistician, police officer, visionary, manager, salesperson, writer, publicist, diplomat, security guard, judge, event planner, curator, flight attendant, comedian, cat wrangler, long-distance athlete, computer technician, troubleshooter, consultant, parenting expert, juggler, advice columnist, surrogate parent, reporter, attorney, and motivational speaker. . .because that’s what teachers are.  

Have a stellar Teacher Appreciation Week.   

Thank You Notes

Thank You Notes

I’ve never been very good at writing thank you notes. I don’t have an acceptable excuse for this shortcoming; I simply forget to take the time to formally acknowledge my gratitude. I’ve been working on this for a while now, and I’m getting better. At this time of the year, I’m especially mindful of the need to thank teachers for all the wonderful things you do each day.

Thank you for the time you spend—during the school day and frequently beyond—preparing lessons, grading papers, meeting with parents, learning new things professionally, and attending extracurricular activities.

Thank you for making your classroom a student-centered environment where the kids do the thinking and the talking, even when it would be easier and faster just to tell them what you know yourself.

Thank you for taking risks with technology because you know that students in today’s world engage actively when you let them connect online.

Thank you for believing in your students. You may be the only one in their lives who does.

Thank you for having high expectations for yourself and your students.

Thank you, also, for being flexible and merciful. They are, after all, kids, and kids make mistakes and do stupid things sometimes. It’s part of growing up.  

Thank you for spending time teaching your students the “hidden curriculum” of school. Thanks for realizing that there may not be someone at home who knows how to navigate the world of education and that your guidance can help someone sail farther than they would have ever anticipated.

Thank you for making your classroom a safe space for students to struggle.

Thank you for bringing joy to your classroom because a classroom without joy is a dreary place to try to learn.

Thank you for understanding that not all students learn in the same way. Thanks for incorporating WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading) into your lessons so that all students have the opportunity to grow in vital learning realms and to strengthen skills in areas of weakness.

Thank you for taking time to pause and let your students reflect on their learning.

Thank you for realizing that rigor doesn’t mean more work or more punitive grading; it means work at a higher cognitive level.

Thank you for praising your students, even when it’s hard to find something to praise.

Thank you for adopting a growth mindset in your classroom and for helping your students develop one.

Thank you for having a sense of humor. It makes the day more pleasant for you, for your students, and for your co-workers.

Speaking of your co-workers, thanks for being a team player. Teaching is hard work, but it’s not a competition. There’s no reason each of us needs to do all the work ourselves.

Thank you for being vulnerable, for apologizing when you make a mistake, for admitting you’re not perfect, and for letting your students know that it’s better to take a risk and fail than not to try at all.

Thank you for viewing assessment as an opportunity for learning, not as an endpoint, a punishment, a “gotcha,” or a means for sorting or ranking students. Thanks for realizing that the most important assessment is daily formative assessment and may alter the path of your instruction.  

Thank you for making good use of your students’ time. Having a well-planned class each day and only thoughtful, meaningful, necessary work outside of class shows them you value their time and aren’t intending to waste it.   

Thank you for keeping up-to-date professionally. Thanks for realizing that we can’t keep teaching the same way because it worked in the past. Times are changing. Students are changing. Our school populations may be changing. We should be changing in response.

Thanks for being a reflective practitioner, for constantly asking yourself how a lesson or assignment went and how it can be better next time. Thank you for asking questions and seeking help when you need it.

Thank you for taking time for yourself to recharge. I hope you find more of that time over the holidays.

Have a wonderful, restful, and well-deserved break. I am thankful for the work you do.