To Our Children’s Teachers

Both my kids suck at writing.  It isn’t a secret. It started in pre-school and the 9-year-old still has writing that is illegible . I had my teacher/parent conferences a few weeks ago. It was pretty much status quo except that BOTH kids need to work on the their writing. Shocker.

My 6 year-old was fortunate enough to get the same two incredible teachers my 9 year-old had in Kindergarten and 1st Grade.  At my 6 year-old’s conference a few weeks ago, his teacher  told me that he needed help with his writing. She didn’t suggest I take him for extra help outside of school. No, instead, she offered to give him extra help. Obviously my 6 year-old has no idea what an amazing gesture she made but I do realize. I realize the impact this will have when he enters 2nd grade and how his writing may be a little less of a handicap. She isn’t getting paid extra and ,while she didn’t tell me, I believe she is doing it because she is so passionate about teaching, it fulfills her to help any of her students in need. If she is helping one child or ten, she is making the world that much better each day.

I do not think we thank our children’s teachers enough. Sure we give them gifts before Christmas Break (btw – I am putting together an amazing teacher’s gift blog, lot’s of great ideas this year!) and we thank them at the end of the year for having our kids. But do we take the time out to handwrite them a meaningful letter? Do we shoot them a really nice email about an incident that happened at school and how much we appreciate the way they handled it? Do we ever take it a step further and write a note to the superintendent about a teacher in the district that has truly made a difference in our child’s life instead of berating a teacher that has not done enough? Teaching is an extremely taxing and hard job. Personally, I couldn’t do it. The lessons I teach my kids as a parent are far different from the lessons my children learn at school.

In 9th grade I took an advanced social studies class that was literally from hell. It was super hard, I had hours of homework and when I think back to that class I believe it should have been a class taught in 11th grade, not 9th. But the lessons I learned in that class will never be forgotten. I had a teacher, Mr. Rhodes, who taught me more in one year than I learned in three years of high school. He was a scholar, he was tough, but he did what no other teacher did in my whole life. He cared. It’s not that I didn’t have teachers in the past who cared, he took caring to a whole new level. I struggled in that class. I always thought I wasn’t smart enough to be there and it showed in every assignment I turned in. The kids in that class were brilliant. They all ended up at an Ivy League School. I have no idea what they are doing now because they were not at the reunion but I remember every Wednesday we had a debate in the class and I feared it like no other. Mr. Rhodes set up the room in two sections. He gave us a topic, split us into 2 groups and we had to debate. It was frightening. I have never been one who is great at arguing. I am much better when I can think through a situation, gather facts and create a valid argument. Catch me off guard and I am like a deer caught in headlights. I freeze and can’t speak. This was me every Wednesday, the deer in headlights. During 9th grade, I decided to run for president. To this day I have no idea why. I would make a terrible president, lol , but I guess at the time it seemed like the cool thing to do. I ran against Joe Surdo. Thank gd he won. He was much more equipped for the job than me. But I gave a killer speech. A speech that shocked Mr. Rhodes. Mr. Rhodes pulled me aside after giving my 3 minute speech and he was perplexed. He could not understand how I never said a word during each debate for the past few months but I got on stage and spoke with such passion and conviction. He said, “Amy, you were a firecracker!” (I will never forget it because I have never wanted to impress any other teacher more than him). From that day on, he spent extra time with me. He showed me how to look at all the assignments in a new light, through a different lens. He taught me how to have an appreciation for Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald when the roaring 20’s seemed like such a bore to me at the time. It was an eye-opening experience and I will forever be grateful to him. I believe the year I spent in his class prepared me for the next 3 years of high school. I never thanked him or sent him a note about how he changed my life but I should have.

Our children spend 6.5/7 hours of their day at school five days a week. Sometimes they spend more time with the teachers in the classroom than at home with us, the parents. I think sometimes we forget about the teachers. We take it for granted that our children go to school, learn, do their homework, and repeat day after day. We go on with our lives and don’t pay attention to the teachers unless we get a phone call that maybe something bad happened at school or maybe something great. We are so wrapped up in our own lives that we never stop to think about what the teachers are doing for our children. How they are empowering them, teaching them to be creative thinkers, nurturing their gifts and opening up possibilities our kids may have never thought possible. Do we appreciate the teachers who take the extra 30 minutes out to improve our children’s lives, who care, who listen, who push, and who love? Do we recognize the teachers who struggle with giving low grades to children who truly have the potential to learn or the teachers who work long hours for modest pay but they wouldn’t trade their job for the world? These are the people, the teachers, who believe in their passion and instill our kids with knowledge, self-confidence and a love for learning. They play a major part of who our children become years down the road. For so many of our kids, they are their role models, their friends and their confidants.

So while I am putting together this fabulous teacher gift guide, maybe the best gift would to simply write your child’s teacher a letter  this year thanking them for the gift their children were given this year. Yes, thanking your child’s teacher for playing such a significant role in your child’s life because, after all, without the teachers our children’s futures would not be as bright and their tomorrow’s would not be as sunny.

xx