This coming week, May 6 through May 10, is Teacher Appreciation Week. This Tuesday, May 7, is Teacher Appreciation Day. I had to look these dates up to write about them because I really don't pay much attention to all of this. I've been thinking about why this is the case -- because it turns out I seem to think a lot -- and I believe I've pinpointed my casual dismissal of this down to three different reasons:
1 - I know what I do. I know how hard I have to work to do it. I know how important it is, or I wouldn't have turned my life over to doing it.
2 - The people who truly appreciate teachers already do anyway.
3 - I'm really, really bad at taking compliments.
Indulge me as I elaborate....
The first point covers ground that might sound familiar to people who know me: I suspect most of the general public believes they know what teaching involves because they all went to school and saw teachers in action, so they think they're able to fill in the blanks about what goes on behind the scenes. Plus we get summers and weekends off, so there's that. This perception has consequently led to innumerable tiny invisible finger violins being played in accompaniment throughout the decades whenever teachers have dared to mention the job is challenging.
I'm fine with this. Really. I know what I do. I know how hard my colleagues and I work. I know how challenged we are by the surreal levels of pandemonium that can happen routinely at school, which only compounds how difficult the job already is on a good day. And if any number of the families I work with believe I do little more than pass out worksheets and collect lunch money, I accept that. I was raised in an extended family with so many teachers that if we rounded up everyone who put in time in a classroom and joined forces, we could open and operate a K-12 private school, including the administration, the arts, health services, special ed and all of the athletic coaches. I don't come from a teaching family as much as I come from a teaching dynasty. Because of this, I grew up in an environment that revered education. I still carry that truth with me, and if other people in the world have different life stories than mine and don't share that understanding, so be it. The world keeps turning.
But this spins into my second point: If there are some people who don't acknowledge what teachers do every day for their children, or their community, or society, there are just as many who do. And these people don't need a calendar to remind them to be appreciative because their enthusiasm takes care of that already. They don't have to spend their $1.79 on a greeting card with a picture of an apple or a happy cartoon person pointing at an addition problem scrawled on a chalkboard. They get it on their own, and they find ways to show they get it. Which is very nice when it happens.
And of course there are the students. In the end, speaking for myself at least, this is where it really matters. They are the ones I've given my life to. They show their appreciation by smiling at you in the morning, or
putting forth the effort asked of them, or doing any other number of
small things to demonstrate how important you are to them. Sometimes they'll draw you pictures or make you signs, sometimes they'll share stories about their lives with you, sometimes they'll even come back to visit from middle school or high school. I can think of a few rare instances when I've gotten e-mails from past students who are confident there's no way I'll remember them, but they just wanted to tell me about how they still remember a book I read to them nine years earlier, or they want to invite me to their middle school play or their graduation open house, or they wanted me to know that my coming to watch some of their basketball games on Saturday mornings the year they were in my class was one of the things that made them want to earn the education degree they're only months away from finishing. I'm not sure how a greeting card could ever top that.
My last point dips back into that bucket of idiosyncrasies that makes up my personality: I just don't take compliments very well. Working in an elementary school setting, where I am positive the phrase "warm fuzzies" came into being, can sometimes get overwhelming with the affirmations. If I compliment a student on something and I overdo it, I'm positive they can sense I'm not entirely genuine, so I like to be sure the compliments I give people really count. I'm certain this is related to my tendency to deflect many compliments I get, especially if I don't feel I've earned the acknowledgment, or that acknowledgement is even necessary. Teaching is a job that demands to be done consistently well, and if I don't push myself to at least approach that level, I feel like I've fallen short of what I need to do. If I help someone reach their goals or if I get through a lesson successfully, it's more common that I feel relief instead of triumph, because that's just what needs to be done.
The occasional pat on the back can be nice, but it isn't always necessary. I already know what I do, and I know how important it is. I have that to carry with me and keep me going.
