National Teacher Appreciation Week a Time to Say Thanks

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.’ –Jacques Barzun

Today marks the beginning of National Teacher Appreciation Week, a time to honor the men and women who lend their passion and skills to educating children.

The past year has brought new challenges for those who have chosen to commit their lives to education.

Adding a worldwide pandemic to an already stressful job led many teachers to weigh the benefits against the challenges. One study found that nearly 40 percent of K-12 teachers, more than 3.5 million, noting the pandemic led them to consider changing jobs. Other veteran teachers considered early retirement. 

But the exodus didn’t happen. Before the pandemic, about 8 percent of teachers left the profession each year. And an expectation that the number those leaving the classroom would spike during the year of COVID-19, didn’t factor in why many chose to teach.

For all the added burdens of masks, hand sanitizer, back and forth online/in person teaching, and worries about contracting the virus, most teachers are still at their posts.

Why? Because the majority of teachers still see their work as more akin to a ministry, a calling, than to vocation. This is a big reason why, despite what might be the most challenging year in the history of public education, few jumped ship. 

“A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.” –Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

It is rare to find a teacher who got into the profession who chose this path to make the world a better place. 

Remember, not a single teacher knew when they chose the profession that one day they would be labeled essential front-line workers in a pandemic.  

They have spent the past year plus worried for their own health, and the health of their families, while calming the nerves of parents and students. 

As the school year winds down, it’s time to dig deep for extra measures of compassion, patience and grace for our teachers. 

In the best of times, most teachers rarely see many expressions of kindness for what they do in our community. 

This week would be a good time for a note of gratitude, or better yet a gift card to say thank you to your child’s teacher or your friend, neighbor or family member who is a teacher. 

“Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire.” –W.B. Yeats 

Most of us can recall the words of encouragement from teachers that helped alter the course of our lives. And most of us have probably never thanked them for their encouragement.

I recall one first-year teacher who in the middle of trying to deal with a classroom full of rambunctious students found time to encourage this third grader’s writing and love of books. Sue Medlock, along with School Librarian Ethel Allen, took the difficult path of looking past my class clowning and classroom disrupting foolishness to make a point of telling me I had a gift for writing, a wonderful imagination, and that I should continue writing stories. I will forever be grateful to this teacher and school librarian for their kindness and devotion to education. 

This week offers an excellent opportunity to fill social media posts with the names of the teachers who changed your life for the better.  Put a name to it, and you are likely to find others who might also want to thank some who have heard little in the way of thanks over a career. Such accolades will also serve to encourage the children of the men and women who gave their lives for a purpose greater than a paycheck.

For more on Teacher Appreciation Week, click here.