Teacher Appreciation 2020 During Shelter In Place/Covid-19
About ten years ago I thought about going back to school to become a teacher. I was a swimming instructor for several years when I was young. Other than some of those really cold mornings in the pool or the kid who threw up on me I loved it. Those little kids thought I was a rockstar, especially when they saw me outside of the pool, which is where I told them I lived. I was a Sunday school teacher for our church and I loved the cute little preschoolers. About the time I was thinking about teaching as a job I started teaching merit badge classes for middle school boys. I realized then that I am not cut out to be a teacher for kids who are /or think they are smarter than me unless they are my own kids. It confirmed my belief that teachers are in fact special kinds of people. It’s more than a job, it’s a calling. I believe we should honor/celebrate our teachers all the time, not just during the Hallmark holiday called Teacher Appreciation Week. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s nice to have a special day/week but isn’t it more genuine if you just tell them on a random Wednesday in October? But maybe that’s just me.
In May of 2020, after weeks with our kids learning at home, I know all of you know how hard it is to be a teacher. If you don’t appreciate your kids’ teachers now then my judgey-self says something is wrong with you. I have a junior in college who is home doing classes on line, as well as two high school kids learning on line. There are days that work seamlessly for everyone and there are days when the freshman boy tells me how many kids crashed his PE class Zoom call. There are days when the wi-fi is too slow and there are days when a teacher calls the house to check in on the kids to see how they are doing. There was the day when we learned that the prom was officially cancelled and the day when teachers posted fabulous heartfelt videos and photos on social media. Here is the thing, we are all trying to adjust to this home school thing and somedays are better than others. Some of the teachers have their own little kids at home. Some of those teachers have kids who were graduating this year too. Some of those teachers have parents, children or grandchildren they haven’t seen or hugged in months. Some of those teachers have spouses who lost their jobs. All the while, they have have been there for their students. They are teaching in ways they never imagined and trying to stay connected to students in creative ways that go beyond what is necessary. I’ve learned a lot about home schooling during shelter in place but the three things that will stick with me as a parent are teaching is hard, our kids miss their teachers and our teachers miss their kids.
So now here we are in Teacher Appreciation Week 2020. We can’t see our teachers and give them the big breakfast or lunch at school. We could send a Starbucks gift card or flowers, which is great, but maybe this year we can do something more meaningful. Maybe this year we as parents can write a note to that teacher that really understood our kid back in 4th grade. We can tell them what that child is up to now and how grateful we are for the care they showed our child. Maybe this year we can write a note to the social worker who feels every pain our kid feels. Maybe this year we can write a note to the teacher that listened to us as we struggled to parent our own child. Maybe this year we can write a note to teacher who helped us as parents let go of something we felt our child should do or a way they should be and encouraged our child to take a risk. Maybe this year we can write a note to the teacher that finally got your kid to love reading/science/math — well maybe not math but you get my point. Or maybe this year we can try to find one of our own teachers and let them know how they changed our lives. We all have them. Mr. Radcliffe. Ms. Brough. Mrs. Smith. As parents we all have those teachers that changed our kids. Mrs Dristle. Mrs. Gross. Mr. Wanninger. Mr. Maighler. Mr. Scott.
Let’s make teacher appreciation week 2020 — and maybe all future teacher appreciation weeks — different. I’m sure the teachers love the bagels and the coffee and the flowers. I’m sure they’d still love to get them. I’m also pretty sure that most teachers who answered the call of teaching would love to know specifically what they mean to you.
