Thank You Teachers

Inspiration for some of my blogs can emerge from some of the most unlikely places.  I was recently sitting behind a car at a red light when I saw a bumper sticker that said: “If you can read this, thank a teacher.”  Immediately I thought of myself as a kid in elementary school with my class issued reading book, and I smiled to myself.  I’ve seen this bumper sticker before in other places, but this time it brought back some recent thoughts that I had about the tireless efforts of teachers.  Having said that, I wanted to write my blog this week as a thank you to teachers at all levels.

The gratitude that we should have for teachers and educators was already on my mind because of some stories that I had recently seen about Strawberry Mansion High School in Philadelphia, and Trenton Central High School in New Jersey.  The story about Strawberry Mansion High School followed Assistant Superintendent for the school district, Linda Cliatt-Wayman.  She was serving as a volunteer principal at the school because it had gone through four principles in four years.  The school has been deemed one of the most dangerous high schools in the nation, and currently has 94 security cameras as well as metal detectors.  Despite all of this, Ms. Cliatt-Wayman was willing to volunteer to be their principal to save the school from being closed down.  While the story about the school was eye opening, my thoughts turned to the teachers in that school.  I thought about how difficult it must be to teach in such conditions, yet they still show up to work every day for their students.

The story about Trenton Central High School in New Jersey was about a building that was falling apart.  The structure of the building had been so deteriorated that there were walls with mildew and mold as well as leaking roofs.  After seeing the conditions shown, I was shocked that the building hadn’t been condemned for safety and health reasons.  But once again, when I saw this story, I thought about the teachers.  They were expected to perform their jobs in conditions that were not fit for anyone to work under.

I have a lot of friends who are teachers in Pre-K – 12 education and some who are professors in college, so I believe that’s why I think of teachers when I see stories like that.  Granted the schools mentioned are some extreme examples that made the news but there are schools all over our nation that have dilapidated buildings and low to no resources for our teachers to use.  While there are some schools who could be confused for a small college based on their facilities and amenities, there is a common thread among teachers, and that is that they give of themselves every day for their students. 

Teachers unfortunately don’t get paid lavishly for the work that they do, and sometimes end up spending some of their own money on their classrooms.  They are also under a fair amount of stress to perform on a regular basis, but they make a difference in the lives of our nation’s youth every day.  From comforting a child who skins their knee on the playground, to breaking up fights, to spending time after class to make sure that their students understand the material taught, our teachers are a valuable asset to the advancement of our nation. 

The time and effort our teachers put in with their students leads to the education of our future leaders in any occupation you can think of.  It is easy to take for granted the hard work of our teachers because many of them make it look easy, but it’s important that we show our gratitude to them and let them know they are appreciated.  They take the time to create lesson plans, stay for parent teacher conferences, grade homework, and attend in-services on some holidays.   There are also some teachers who take the time to coach athletic teams, run music programs or direct theater productions after putting in a full day with their students.  This effort, and their constant care and concern for their students is why I’d like to say not only thank you to the teachers that I’ve had, but thank you to teachers everywhere.