Teacher Appreciation Week

Today was the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week. Our PTO was awesome and got us many goodies including chocolate (which I didn't need, but ate anyway) and dry erase markers (which I always need). Actually, this was probably the best Teacher Appreciation Week I have ever seen.

Teaching is a hard profession, especially in May, which is why I think they put Teacher Appreciation Week in this month. We are always scrambling to wrap up the school year and pull one more essay out of our kids, finish the state tests, complete all the mountains of required paperwork, pack up our classrooms, and file professional development requests. In fact, the "last day of school" is never the "last day of school."

I don't think anyone really knows how hard teaching is unless they are a teacher or a single parent. The only people I've talked to who really understand the difficulties of constantly being on duty on behalf of others are teachers, single parents, and parents of more than six kids. Everybody thinks they know how hard teaching is because they went to school and so they saw it being done. Also, teachers get summer off, and who doesn't love that? (Of course, our paychecks reflect that, too.) Yet, only those who have been there in some way know what it is like to have a profession that requires you to pour into others constantly. Let's just say, we earn those summers!

I had an ironic conversation with my seventh grade girls this past week. We were discussing life in general and the ACT and college in particular. I happened to mention that I got a 21 on the ACT the first time I took it when I was 12. I had already told them that the ACT covers things from about 8-10th grade and that the highest score on the test is a 36. They were surprised at how smart I was. I then told them how I skipped 2 grades, started college at 16, and graduated with a BA at 20. (I swear I've told them this before, but they forget, you know.)

Their faces awed and their eyes wide, they asked, "Why are you a teacher? You could've been something better!"

I was not at all offended and they were not being rude. (Not that they've never been known for that; they are twelve-year-old girls!) They were genuinely curious why I could choose a profession that paid so little and was clearly difficult when I could have done anything I wanted. Some of the comments I heard included that I could've made more money and not had to deal with bratty kids. They floated alternative jobs to me: doctor, veterinarian, policeman, actress. I smiled as I listened to them suggest other career paths, gently telling them why those jobs weren't for me. (Blood=gross, though I did consider being a pediatrician.)

I told the kids that I loved language and I loved kids and I wanted to share my love of language with them. My kids know me well enough by now to realize that I love them, I think, even when I yell and make them do hard projects. I loved having this conversation with them. Getting to have real conversations with my students is one of the most delightful aspects of my job.

Still, it saddened me to realize that this is how people view the teaching profession. I was not surprised, however. We've all heard the old saying, "Those who can't do, teach!" I think society as a whole thinks that teachers are people who couldn't hack it in the "real world" or who weren't smart enough or otherwise capable enough of doing something better. Ninety percent of news stories about teachers are negative. It is assumed that those who demand things like more pay, more support, and less government interference in our classrooms are troublemakers who don't care about their students. I don't understand why anyone would choose teaching as a profession if they did not care about their students. It's certainly not for the money or working conditions.

Really, I can't imagine doing anything else (except writing, which I do anyway). Business doesn't interest me, I neither enjoy nor excel at physical labor, I get this funny feeling at the sight or smell of blood, and I want to stay out of certain situations that other professions might bring me face-to-face with. Believe me, I already see more than I thought to in my current profession.

Teaching is difficult, but what makes teaching difficult is also what makes it worthwhile. My students break my heart on a regular basis. It is difficult to go into work each day knowing that I am fighting that, fighting generational curses that I don't even know, fighting poverty, ignorance, laziness, and fear. I fight on behalf of others and I've only so recently begun to conquer these things on behalf of myself.

I long to save my students from the heartbreak that I went through, and what makes teaching so difficult is knowing that I cannot. Ultimately, they have to make their own decisions. They can receive what I am sharing with them, recognize its value, or they cannot. They can fight me tooth and nail and get nowhere or they can put forth the effort to move from where they are and grow into a place of prosperity. They are ultimately in Yahweh's hands and they will have to meet Him for themselves one day and make their own decisions regarding Him.

I don't understand why society as a whole doesn't see the value in teaching and in teachers. Some people see the value in teachers, I know. I have met some of these people. Still, as a whole, society doesn't value us and I can tell you that because of the support we get. If society valued us, instead of being treated like lazy bums who just aren't getting America's students up to standards, society would look at the system of public education as a whole, the breakdown of the nuclear family, the increase in national poverty, and see that there are situations and circumstances that are beyond the control of the teachers who go into a classroom on a daily basis and fight these situations and circumstances anyway.

Because we are the optimists, the dreamers, the warriors. We are the ones who are willing to go into a no-win situation and believe we can win anyway. We are the ones who dream of a better future and are willing to fight for it on behalf of others. We are teachers, and we are valuable.

So I would like to thank our local PTO and all of the others who support us teachers as we go into battle on a daily basis against the powers and principalities of darkness and bring light by which to see. Just as a warrior cannot fight in a battle without supplies and support, so we cannot do our jobs without resources and backup.

Perhaps if we had more of that, our education system would be a little more successful.

And to all my fellow teachers: Thank you! You are doing an amazing job just by showing up every day and loving those children. I know how you feel. Keep going! It is hard to see it now, but we win in the end.