Entry 10: Appreciate Your Teachers

Growing up my mom was an aid in a special needs preschool classroom. At a very young age I was exposed to the behind the scenes work that teachers do on an everyday basis. I saw how hard these teachers worked and how under appreciated they were by the people I called my classmates. Many of the people close to me think that I am crazy for becoming an Ed Major. Truth be told I am very afraid for my future as an educator. But the idea that I can have an impact on a student the way many of my teachers have had on me, outweighs any fear I could ever have.

The amount of work that goes into running and maintaining a classroom is tremendous. Students often complain about the amount of time spent in a classroom, without realizing that their teachers show up at least an hour before them every morning and leave many hours after them. This also increases for teachers who sponsor any clubs or coach any sports. There is a huge time commitment and sacrifice that comes with becoming an educator.

One major time commitment of teaching is creating lesson plans. Writing lesson plans and scheduling a week or a day can be very difficult. More times than not, lesson plans do not turn out the way that they are intended to. But teachers are forced to improvise and make it the best lesson they can. They have to take into account the different types of learning styles in their class, the allotted time for each subject and the available materials to create an activity. I know teachers who thought they had created a sure fire lesson plan that fails miserably. I have had teachers redo entire lessons because they were not satisfied with the outcome. Teachers do everything in their power to assure that their students are learning the material.

Another reason to appreciate teachers for is the fact that they spend their own money to stock the classroom with supplies and decorations. Imagine how cranky your mom gets spending excess money on school supplies every fall and multiply it by twenty-five. Teachers today are no longer given a decent budget to supply their classrooms. They use the little amount of money that they are paid to assure that you as a student have the best materials that you can. They also help supply students whose parents struggle financially with school supplies and often snacks at school. Not only is there a cost for a degree in education, but there is a cost to keep teaching.

Appreciating your teachers should not be limited to just one week throughout the year. There doesn't have to be a grand gesture, but show appreciation and respect for all that your teachers do.