Tuesday, May 4, 2010

What Do You Appreciate in a Teacher?

This week in the United States is Teacher Appreciation Week, a time set aside each year to honor the hard work that educators do every day in the classroom and beyond.

The challenge of the celebration is to try to remember every teacher I need to thank. I don’t have a list of them all, and I’m afraid I’ll leave someone out.

I’ve been puzzling over the problem for several days and peeking at resources on the PTA website for a solution. That’s how I happened upon the PTA’s Teacher Appreciation Week Polls. Their poll about teacher characteristics captured my attention:

[Poll also available on the PTA Website]

Last time I looked, the response “Communication” was in the lead, but the stats seem close and may have changed by the time you read this. After all, a teacher really needs all those qualities to excel—and a few more.

A teacher needs to understand a lot of content material. She needs a giant dose of compassion for students and colleagues. And she has to love the job.

So many of the teachers I have known have all those characteristics. Even if I had the entire month of May, I could never name them all.

There have been (and are) so many teachers in my life. You have inspired, taught, and mentored me. How can I possibly honor you all? I’m turning to the power of social networking.

I’ve posted this little thank you on Facebook and Twitter:

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Here's to all teachers everywhere. Thank you for everything you do. (Please repost!)

Help me spread the word. Please repost the greeting and make sure all the teachers who touch our lives know how much we appreciate them.

 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When I chose my poem for Poem-in-your-Pocket Day, I realized the teacher/professor who introduced me to "Pied Beauty." Dr. Bruner, always Mr. Bruner, actually, at DePaul U. I wrote a note on a reading Ning, and then I remembered I was part of the university's alum page, so I posted the comment on their page, also.