It's usually around this time of year that I wax poetic about teachers.
About my own teachers, about my kids' teachers, about my role as as teacher, and about the ongoing challenge of being in a classroom as an actual teacher.
If you've been paying attention to the news over the past few years, you'll know that the teaching profession is struggling as a whole. There are more people leaving the profession than there are joining it. And while I have my own thoughts and feelings about all of that, I just want to take a few minutes to share some feelings about my experiences of teacher things.
I have nothing but the highest regard for every. single. teacher. I've had the privilege to learn from. People are right when they say that students may not remember what they learned, but they DO remember how they felt. I can say without hesitation that I always felt safe and supported in every classroom I was in as a child.
I remember learning the pledge of allegiance in preschool, reveling in the magic of watching chicken eggs hatch in kindergarten, sitting on the special couch for the day of my first grade birthday, and making (or at least attempting to make) raisins in 2nd grade. I remember beaming with pride the first time I got to pick something from the treasure box in 3rd grade, and performing in my first play in 4th grade. I sang my first solo as a 5th grader in a concert, and could sing it for you today if you asked. And I still go on a wildflower walk every spring with my own children after all the fun I had making my pressed wildflower books as a 6th grader.
I learned how to work with others in music, and how to set a goal and work tirelessly toward it. I learned how to construct and diagram a solid sentence, a skill that has surprisingly come in handy more times than I ever anticipated it would. I know how to use a sewing machine, and while it would be a bit of a struggle, I think I could still navigate a woodshop for some basic things. I remember to be careful when capitalizing words so that the lower case letters are *actually* smaller... (I can still hear Mr. Wilkerson telling me to "Get your big S up to the board and fix that one" when I told him that the S I'd written on the chalkboard was actually a lower case one...) I'm still waiting for the time when I may need to use the quadratic formula in my life--but maybe that day is still coming? And those are just things that I can thank my own K-12 teachers for teaching me!
I remember every single teacher's special teacher handwriting, and how pleased I was to get a smiley face, a star, or a sticker on my work. I remember birthday crowns and science labs; research papers and clay sculptures. I remember being supported as I found my way as a student and as a person.
I know that everyone's experience is unique, and I know that things are lots different now than they were way back in the "late 1900's" when I started my school journey. But despite all of the noise in the media with words like "indoctrination" and "agendas", I really do think that if people looked closely, most things remain the same.
Kids are still learning their letters and how to read. They learn how to express themselves in art class. They are encouraged to move their bodies in PE. They are learning to do math in ways that have been at times like mental gymnastics to me--but that are improving their understanding. They are reading books, making music, making friends, and figuring out who they are as people. The only agenda that I can see where I teach is how we as teachers will make these students they best people that they can be so that when they leave our halls they are ready to go out into the world and to make their mark upon it.
I encourage you to think about all of the things you do in a given day, and think back to when you first learned how to do those things. The influence of teachers isn't probably something that you ponder with regularity, but maybe it should be. If you're a student--thank a teacher. If you're a parent, thank your child's teacher. If you are a teacher--give a fellow teacher some encouragement.
If you think you have no horse in the race and no need to consider teachers, you're wrong: Teaching is the profession that creates all others. So whether you are a teacher, you have children who have teachers, you know someone who is (or was) a teacher, you live in a town where there are teachers, or you appreciate well educated people entering the workforce... Somewhere, teachers were behind that.
Thanks today to all of my teachers, many of whom I consider treasured friends today.
Thanks to all of my kids' teachers, and to those people who plan to one day become teachers.
You're appreciated today, and every day.
