I won't get into my usual rant about Teacher Appreciation Week or Day and why they don't... okay. Stopping there.
Instead of that, I'm going to show my own appreciation for the teachers I work with, and have worked with, throughout my long and storied career. I'm not going to identify anyone by name but rather by archetype. I feel the descriptors I'm planning on using here are too widely occurring to limit myself to specific people just because I happen to know them.
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The probationary teachers who work each day to figure out the best ways to do their jobs and often feel overwhelmed when they aren't sure if their efforts are making a difference.
The veteran teachers who work each day to keep up with all of the changes they've witnessed happen to their profession in the timeline of their careers.
The teachers willing to spend forty-five minutes sitting in a friend's classroom after school to let them vent and help them process an epically bad day.
The ones with older children, navigating the joys and discoveries and challenges that come with seeing their babies moving through that stage of life.
The ones who feel personally attacked, either by students, parents, colleagues, or administrators, and don't understand what they did to deserve such treatment.
The introverts who are bursting with ideas but don't feel comfortable speaking their minds.
The teachers who spend so much time pursuing and developing those silver bullet activities they're certain will lead to the moments when the light bulbs come on for all of their students simultaneously, only to see those ideas come apart like so much shattered glass. And yet even after that, they'll go back to the well for new ideas and try again and again until they find the strategy that works.
The ones who are so used to going home with streaks of permanent marker on their school clothes every day.
Any teacher who has supervised an activity after school and had to wait with a student an extra half hour because their parents couldn't get their on time to pick them up. Or forgot they were staying after school that night, which of course implies that we're talking about the kind of parents who maybe didn't realize their child didn't come home from school that day.
The ones who daydream about the career paths not travelled, but still show up on time and get the job done and make students smile while they do it.
The jokesters and wisenheimers on their staffs, who manage to bring bright and cleansing laughter when it's needed the most.
The teachers who fight to find the balance that allows them to give each student a fresh start at the beginning of each day, even if that same kid ruined everything for everyone the day before.
The ones who have to fight through fluctuating levels of anxiety each morning just to walk through their classroom door.
The teachers who spend far too much money on students who don't understand or appreciate the sacrifices being made on their behalf.
The ones who not only patiently endure the fury and hellfire some parents send their way, but can talk it all down and put it out.
The teachers who make their decisions based on what's best for the students in front of them instead of what numbers they hope to see on summative spreadsheets in May.
The ones who have the wisdom that comes with experience and institutional memory, and always manage to find the right thing to say when their colleagues are struggling.
The teachers who mean to go home but only get as far as the parking lot and keep the conversation they had going in the hallway alive for another half hour.
The ones who do the extra things they should by all rights be getting paid to do but aren't, and still do them anyway because they believe them to be necessary.
The teachers who will let their students fall asleep in class when they recognize how much some of those particular kids are struggling at home.
Any teacher with a tongue knitted over with scars from the dozens of times they had to bite it.
The teachers who participate actively in union work to protect their colleagues while knowing what complete pariahs teacher unions are in the culture right now.
The teachers who can both talk to their class with the sweetness of a Disney princess crowned with butterflies and with the direct accountability of the drill instructor from "Full Metal Jacket," and have both personas accepted as equal truths.
The ones who will do the things they shouldn't have to do when they have to work with serial buck-passers on their staff.
The ones who don't feel safe openly sharing their personal views at school, but quietly endure it when other people do.
The teachers game enough to sit on the dunk tank stool and smile through the discomfort and embarrassment, 'cause I ain't ever doing that.
The teachers who find themselves in the hard situations when they have to present their colleagues with the most difficult of honesties because they love them too much to do anything else.
The ones who wait for the school supply sales in late July so they can stock their room with the supplies they know some kids will run out of during the year and some won't have in the first place.
The teachers who know all too well how undervalued they truly are in society, but keep up the hard work when they can pinpoint that one kid who needs them more than could ever be expressed.
The ones who organize the happy hours; they give the others a chance to remember that there is more to life and the relationships they share than what is determined by erratic student needs, convoluted curriculum packages, and abruptly-written staff memos.
The teachers that a student seen as a legitimate suicide risk would be able to name as maybe the one person they know cares about them.
The ones who are already planning new things they'd like to try in the fall before the spring is even over.
The teachers who will take phone calls on from parents on their personal cell phones at any time of the evening and on weekends because they know how much those parents need their counsel, except NO TEACHER EVER SHOULD GIVE A PARENT THEIR CELL PHONE NUMBER AND PEOPLE I AM NOT KIDDING SAVE YOURSELVES AND DON'T DO THIS EVER. Seriously. The phone calls and emails can always wait until morning. Live your lives, and give your personal life a bubble of comfort. (For the record, I've never done this but I know people who have and wow, does it not ever go well.)
The teachers who actively strive to maintain friendships when people change jobs, whether it be a different grade level, a different building, or a different state.
The teachers with a stash of chewy granola bars in their closet for the kid that didn't get any breakfast and can't keep their head off their desk.
Any teacher who has attended a funeral for a student.
Any teacher who has ever sat through a four-hour dance recital to see the student that invited them perform two dances that total seven minutes of performance time.
To all of these teachers and all of the others as well -- thank you for everything you do. I appreciate you.
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