Saturday, August 31, 2013

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

This past week I have survived the first week of fourth grade, sixth grade, tenth grade and my own work at high school.  My kids did great and while the new middle schooler had a tough week, she left on Friday triumphant having finally conquered her locker.  Whew!  The boy loves going to his after-school care; so much so that he is not happy to see me when I get there to pick him up. This should make me feel good, but it does make me a little mad when I have sat in traffic for an hour trying to get to him.

I have gleaned a lot of knowledge this first week working among so many teenagers.  First, they are not as clean-smelling as I hoped kids of this age would be.  We have two rooms off of the library and when classes are held in there, it smells like PE class after everyone leaves.  I expect this from grade school kids who are totally clueless that the smell they smell is indeed themselves, but it surprised me at high school.  Second, when over 2000 kids attend a school, there is not enough room for them all to eat lunch in the cafeteria.  Even with two lunch periods, kids spill into the hallways, the grounds outside, seniors leave campus and hundreds of kids make their way into the library.  We ask that those who are going to eat to eat up front.  Half of the kids say yes ma’am, sit where we ask them to and smile pleasantly. I LOVE these kids.  The the other half is sneaking food in every time they think I am not looking.  I am always looking and it is a game of “how stupid is the library staff vs. fast-chewing teens” for the next 30 minutes.  Third, pep rallies are not as fun as I remember.  Our student population is large, so they have two pep rallies instead of just one.  There was a dance routine, a cheer routine, the football captains murmured something into a microphone, a school fight song and then everyone was ushered out.  Eh.  Fourth, having school spirit means you can wear jeans and sneakers on game days. I just can’t buy enough spirit wear!

However, the most important thing I have learned this week comes from the teachers.  I was hired with about twenty new teachers this year and when they were introduced during the first staff meeting, it was a like a Who’s Who of American Teachers.  They are credentialed in a million things, they have been working in urban locations with struggling schools, they just flew in from overseas, or they are going to be teaching multiple subjects and coaching.  This is not just the new teachers though, it is all the teachers.  Very rarely does a teacher just teach one subject.  They are teaching Math and heading up the Robotics Department, or they teach English and leading the after school tutoring program or they are splitting time between multiple schools.  Impressed yet? I was, but it goes on.  They are there early or late or skip their lunch period to tutor or even just be available for kids who need help.  They are encouraging kids who don’t get encouragement at home and they are cutting through collegiate tape for those who do.  They are taking kids who won’t go on to college and helping them to identify careers and they are taking special needs kids and teaching them life skills.  It is all very humbling.

This week has opened my eyes to what being a teacher really means.  They are listening when other adults are not and they are intervening when kids need help.  People always comment on how teachers have it easy with their holidays and their summer vacations.  I think they need those in order to save their sanity and come back to do it again next year.  And for those of you who think that your taxes pay teacher’s salaries, that is inane.  Your taxes pay your taxes and teachers pay taxes too, so they could say that they are actually funding their own salaries as well.  And yes, teachers do make good money their first year out of college, but what about ten years later when they are raising a family and have had maybe a 1% increase those past ten years?  Not so much right?

My kids have had decent teachers, good teachers and teachers I would walk across coals for if they asked me because they made such a difference in my kids’ lives.  They have also had teachers who were going through a divorce and distracted, teachers who maybe could have retired a few years ago and teachers who got into teaching without realizing it wasn’t for them.  Poor Bill had more bad teachers than good teachers.  I have railed against certain teachers and how I think they have failed my children without stopping to just appreciate that these teachers were there during the day when I wasn’t.  Perhaps their teaching style did not suit my child, but they took care of them, made sure they were where they were supposed to be and expected things of them.  I didn’t care to remember that they were doing all of this while caring for more kids than their room truly holds and state issued testing breathing down their necks.   


I would like to hope that every teacher my kids get will be a great one, but I know that they won’t all be.  However, even if they are not, I will try to keep in mind all that they do in a day and respect them for that alone and teach my kids to do the same.  

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