Money is not appreciation

 Money is not appreciation          

This week is National Teacher Appreciation week.  Teachers definitely need to be appreciated for the work they do and the lives they change.   It is VERY hard work.   The work requires knowledge, flexibility, and a deep sense of caring for other people’s children.

It is high time we did show our appreciation to these important people in our children’s lives.   Let’s raise their salaries!

Actually that’s a good sound bite but it really doesn’t show any appreciation.  What it does show is that we live in a capitalistic country and when things are scarce they become more expensive.  Finding teachers is harder and the reason isn’t for lack of money, the reason is because teachers really are not appreciated the way they once were, so who wants this job.

We can start by valuing a teacher’s judgement.   If a teacher thinks some particular content is going to take a bit longer to teach, that teacher should be able to make that judgement and slow up or move faster depending on how learning is going for her kids.  Instead, we have pacing guides that dictate to teachers exactly where in the curriculum the teacher will be on any given day.   Too bad about the speed at which the students are learning, administrators don’t trust teachers to pace their own teaching.  Move on, we have tests to take at the end of the year.

Aaah, tests to take.  That brings up another example of how we do not trust teachers.   Kids are tested multiple times during the school year.  The tests don’t measure how much the kids have learned as much as they measure how much the teacher has taught.  Teachers are measured by how well their students do on the test.  Is it any wonder, teachers don’t want to teach in lower socio-economic areas or work with slower learning kids?  

Things are only going from bad to worse when it comes to monitoring teachers.   The moral monitors are watching and checking to make sure teachers don’t teach about historical events that might reflect poorly on how our country treated some of our citizens.  Teachers are also monitored to make sure they don’t imply that human equality is a good thing after all that might make the folks who have coasted along on credit for lighter skin or a majority religious faith feel uncomfortable.

Used to be we even trusted teachers to monitor classroom behavior.   Used to be that if you got into trouble at school you would get into bigger trouble at home.  Not so anymore.  Now it is the teacher who gets into trouble for disciplining kids.   Parents storm the principal’s office to explain to the school admin why their child should not have consequences for bad behavior.   Principals are graded on how few kids they have suspended for bad behavior.  Not that the behavior has gotten any better, just that the perpetrators aren’t getting punished.

Do you really want to show your appreciation for teachers?   Support your child’s teacher when the teacher sends a not or email about your child’s behavior.   Contact your school administration, legislators and the media.   Tell them you trust your child’s teacher to provide appropriate curriculum and to pace that curriculum based on your child’s needs.   Tell all of these folks that you trust and appreciate your teachers and you will show that trust and appreciation by getting out of their way and letting them do their jobs.

A nice note would help too.  Otherwise, all the salary increases in the world won’t be enough for people to voluntarily take the kind of abuse you all are dishing out to teachers these days.  Appreciate your teachers all year round by respecting their professionalism.   That’s the real sign of teacher appreciation.