More About Teachers, etc.

I had a couple of terrible teachers; the one in first grade who scared me so much I'd throw up every day before school, and the high school algebra teacher who always spoke in a monotone and was so boring I could hardly stay awake in his class.

But most of my teachers were good and quite a few were wonderful. The best ones had one quality in common; they all cared a lot about helping their students learn. Most of the good ones were strict and they were all enthusiastic about the subjects they taught and changed the lives of many students as a result.

In a time when hundreds of teachers are getting laid off it must be difficult for any of them to be enthusiastic about their jobs, but I hope they'll care enough about their current students to continue doing their best.

Like many people, teachers who get laid off might have to take jobs they don't really want because that's better than being unemployed. But the ones who can be enthusiastic about the new jobs and strict about getting the details right will probably be good at them, too. And they may even make a difference in people's lives.

Come to think of it, people who aren't teachers can make a difference with the right attitude, too.

Teachers

Some people think it's fine for teachers to have their salaries cut. After all, they only work about six hours a day and have lots of vacation time, right?

Wrong! Teachers must work far more hours than those when students are in school. Besides meetings, parent conferences, and attending performances and events outside of school hours teachers must do a lot of other time consuming things.

Preparing lesson plans takes quite a bit of time, especially if the curriculum has changed or the teacher is working at a different school or teaching a different grade level than he or she is used to. And there's lots more involved than simply following a book. Good teachers adapt the lesson plans to the specific needs of their classes. and with dozens of students in each class that isn't easy.

Teachers need to set up and arrange their classrooms and keep bulletin boards and displays relevant to the current topics their classes are studying. Those who work with younger kids might need to do those time-consuming things more often than those who teach teens.

Of course High School teachers must spend more time reading and grading papers and tests and recording the grades than those who work with young children do, but all teachers spend many hours a week doing those things. Ten hour work days aren't unusual.

Teachers must already have at least four years of college and a year or more of post graduate studies to qualify for the profession, and they get paid less than people in other professions requiring that much education.

But that's only the beginning. Often when schools are closed and students have vacation time the teachers are attending training sessions, learning to use new curriculum, etc. and lots of them take more graduate level college courses during the summer to learn how to do their jobs even better. Of course they must pay for those classes themselves.

One teacher influences hundreds of students who may go on to influence hundreds, or even thousands, of other people so teaching is one of the most important jobs in the world.

Thanking Teachers

Several people who left comments about my last post suggested thanking the wonderful teachers they'd had. Please do that. Hearing from past students they'd helped will mean a lot to the teachers.

Mrs. Griffith, the teacher who had taught us the poem I mentioned (and many other things,) is a good example. She had been strict and demanding, but also kind and caring and we all knew she loved us. In fact when we lined up to enter or leave her classroom no child was allowed through the door without a hug. (Yes, that would be illegal today.) We were her second generation of students and she'd taught the parents of some kids in our class.

When I was in my 20s and started working with kids I found her address in the phone book and wrote her a note about how much I appreciated her. More about 15 years after that my mother phoned me and said something I'd written was in the newsletter the school district sent to everyone in the area. It was the letter I'd written, published next to Mrs. Griffith's obituary. The letter I'd sent meant so much to her that she had treasured it for the rest of her life.

So if you remember teachers who helped you a lot and can find contact information, please thank them before it's too late and encourage your kids to do the same.

Teachers

It's pouring where I live and I keep thinking of a poem I learned in third grade;

"The rain, they say, is a mouse-gray horse

That is shod with a silver shoe.

The sound of his hoofs can be heard on the roofs

As he gallops the whole night through."

(I think the poem was written by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The amazing thing is that I still remember something I learned nearly 50 years ago, and that's only one of hundreds of memories from grade school. The teacher who taught us the rain poem was an excellent one, as were several others I had. Some of my teachers were just okay, most were pretty good, and one was terrible, but all of them influenced my life in ways that have lasted.

Teachers often make a difference that continues as long as their students live and, as a result, those students go on to influence other people, who influence still others in turn. And the teachers never know what a difference they have made.

But teachers aren't the only ones. All of us are changing the future in small ways that may eventually cause big changes. Even a passing comment to someone we see in the checkout line at a grocery store can lead to things we'll never be aware of.

None of us know when something we do or say will be used to help change the world.