To Our Unsung Heroes: Happy World Teacher's Day

Good Teachers, Happy World Teacher's Day. I’ve always said you all are the most valuable, but least celebrated people in this world. I’ve always said you all deserve the same kind of pay that doctors receive. I’ve met teachers who have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet, like being an educator doesn’t already take so much out of them. The work doesn’t stop for educators; ever. I’ve always recognized that.

How is teaching one of the most challenging career fields, one hundred percent vital to the cultural, social, and economic well-being of this world, but we are unwilling to compensate and support you, our respective leaders, for the weight that you carry and the work that you do?

The world is literally in your hands. The future, our young people, are literally in your hands. You are the people who are raising the next generation. You are changing, some of you saving, lives every day. You spend forty hours a week with our young people; one hundred and eighty days out of the year (if we don’t count weekends and summer school). You selflessly give so much of yourself to not only educate your scholars, but to provide love, safety, and security of some sort, to them as well. How can we not make or take time to appreciate you more?

For years, both as a student and as an adult, I’ve heard about and watched school funding be negotiated as if there were no value in making sure learning environments were updated, resourced, and functional like we make sure shopping centers and professional sports facilities are in our communities. I’ve watched schools cut home economics classes, art classes, music classes, health classes, and funding for after-school programs; ultimately removing the things that make learning enjoyable, encourage creativity, teach real world skills, and give young people other outlets when the school-day comes to an end. I could never understand it.

Even with the blatant, loud, and consistent disregard for teachers/educators, many of you continue to show up and give your best, every day, for your students. In a profession where every last one of you would have every right to walk away, because of how you are NOT being appreciated, I admire you (good teachers) even more for believing so much in the mission and the young people, that you put on your best face and provide that, which is invaluable.

A light was shown on your importance during the start of the pandemic. Although it was a short-lived light, before we got distracted with all the other foolishness that’s going on, the country was able to see just how much of people’s everyday lives are hindered, when we remove teachers. Not only are you all a source of information and knowledge, you all serve as childcare providers. Not only are you all trying to intellectually support children, you are often times mentally and emotionally supporting them, as well; helping students to process the things that are going on in their world and providing tools that would best help them to navigate those things. Not only are you making sure students have proper learning materials, you’re also sometimes making sure students are fed and clothed. You mean so much to the world. I hope you know that.

As educators, you are so much more than people who lecture, test, grade, discipline, and keep order. For many students, you all are the most consistent adults they have in their lives, the person/s they look forward to seeing each day. Good teachers, you are NOT expendable. Nothing can replace you. Digital devices cannot bring the same value that a passionate teacher brings to learning.

I know teachers who have moved beyond just teaching what is assigned; how it is assigned to teach. I know teachers who take creative control over their lessons and develop curriculum that allows for students to be fully engaged and able to grasp the content, because it was created with them in mind. I know teachers who make relationship building a part of their teaching environment. I know teachers who believe that developing a supportive and equitable community in the classroom is priority. I know teachers who lead with making sure their scholars become seekers of understanding who use their cognition to make the best and most productive decisions for themselves and their communities. You are constantly encouraging young people to be active learners, rather than an audience that you just dump information on. You are facilitators. It is beautiful. Every time I come across a Good Teacher/Educator, it is beautiful.

I don’t know what it’s like to be a teacher. I especially don’t know what it’s like to be a teacher in these times, but I have noticed the things we can no longer call ‘opinion’, because it has indeed been proven a fact during the pandemic. Many things have been affirmed for me this last year, in watching teachers show up and get it done for their scholars, without a playbook.

This world is a mess without teachers/educators.

Parents can go to work, because of teachers. Scholars have a place to learn about themselves and who they wish to be in this world, because of teachers. Classrooms are, more than not, a safe space for young people to frequent, because of teachers. Students learn how to participate in a community, because of teachers. Minds and interests are expanded, because of teachers.

In a world where misinformation is at an all-time high, it is good teachers who sift through that information and make sure that young people receive the information they need to make decisions about how they can help move the world forward. In a world where a large number of students will be the first in their families to travel completely through the education system, teachers are the gateway to and supporting member of ensuring that young people have access to resources that’ll expand their opportunities to change the trajectory of their lives.

Good Teachers/Educators, you are the heartbeat. My hope is that one day, you all will feel the love that you pour into your students, returned from our society, ten times over.

Thank you for your service. We are so blessed to have you.

*I'd love to hear about your favorite teachers in the comments. Please share your stories!