Teaching is hard. I taught for many years. I absolutely loved teaching English as a Second Language. It was so rewarding and lots of fun. Still, teaching is hard work that’s for sure. As a teacher, you are constantly worrying about every kid's wellbeing and academic achievement. It’s tough working for hours to create a lesson plan that is standards driven, one that reaches each child in your class, and one that is effective. Preparing activities. Preparing handouts. Prepping artwork. Ensuring that each student will be engaged and will have fun while learning. Making certain you thought through each student’s individual special needs. It's not easy. After all homework and tests have been collected, if there is any free time left, teachers are busy checking, correcting, and grading all assignments, calling homes to talk with parents, ir answering emails. A teacher's work never ends at 3 pm. Their work continues often past dinner time up until midnight even. Then, it starts all over again the next day.
Teaching is hard. But, for those teachers who love what they do, it is the BEST kind of hard in any profession! Let me share some examples.
Teaching is the best when,
you see students experience that “AHA” moment.
your lesson worked well and you know all students learned the goal.
all kids are engaged and learning.
students give you a hug for no reason.
students smile because they feel safe
students see how proud you are of their work.
The list can go on and on and on. Students are the main reason why teaching is the BEST! Teachers truly make this profession all that it’s meant to be always doing what is BEST BY KIDS.
Recently, many school districts have experienced a teacher shortage. In fact, across the nation more teachers are leaving the classroom each year. As a result, it’s becoming more challenging for districts to hire and retain the highly qualified teachers. In our district, we are working hard to support teachers, help retain instructors, and reduce the effects of teacher turnover so teachers can live in those “BEST” moments every day.
It is not a perfect system, which is why we should never stop evaluating what works and what doesn’t work. Providing safe spaces for teachers to share their input without the fear of retaliation is something I am fighting for. Much frustration often comes from not feeling heard or appreciated, if we give teachers the assurance that we want to hear their opinions, complaints, concerns, and celebrations, then we would be one step closer to building an amazing culture from the bottom up rather than a hands down approach from the top.
Teachers are the key ingredient to increasing student achievement, and to a district’s continued success. Let’s honor our teachers. I know I do!
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