Thank You, Teachers!

Teacher Appreciation week is next week! Is your school/district doing anything fun to celebrate all of you amazing educators? My school does a little something extra each day and encourages students to bring in gifts for their teachers. A gift idea sheet is sent home with students and all are free and require minimal supplies. That way all students are able to participate if they wish to!

I want to let you know with this post just how much you are ALL appreciated every day! I am sure every one of you went into education because you wanted to make a positive difference in the lives of children. I know I did! In fact, many teachers will say when asked, “What do you like best about being a teacher?” something similar to, “I love watching the a-ha moment. That moment when the lightbulb turns on and my student just gets it!”

Let’s just say it takes longer for the lightbulb to be switched on for some students more than others. I’m sure you know what I mean. 😉

For instance, do the writers of nonsense fluency tests make these tests to give us a laugh? There are two nonsense words in particular that I am thinking of. One is bix. Many young students reverse b/d when reading, so bix often comes out dix. Another is fex. You can probably see where I am going with this one. Short vowel /e/, but student pronounces /u/. Then, some students will make a surprised face upon hearing themselves say a cuss word and others won’t realize what they said.

Another is curriculums that include phonics and have students rhyming word families you know students will find THAT word. The word family -uck. What rhymes with duck? Some other fun word families include -itch, -ass, and -it. I have joked with my own kids who are older that, maybe, if we taught with inappropriate phonics, students would learn faster. 🤣

I, also, get a inner-chuckle when a student thinks they know what a word means, but don’t quite have it right when using it while speaking or writing it in a sentence. And I love deciphering words spelled phonetically. Sometimes you wonder why the invented spelling isn’t the actual way the word is spelled because their way makes more sense.

Most classes, also, tend to have one or two students that can just make you laugh. They are funny in a way that the whole class can laugh together! Sometimes, having a good sense of humor can get you through the day. We thank the higher powers for sending those students our way!

Those are just a few of the highlights of being a teacher!

If we took the time to write out an accurate job description of a teacher, the pages would be enough for a book. Teachers do so much and always with their students’ best interest at the center of their work. Teachers do life-changing work.

That’s you! You change lives one student at a time! You will reach every student differently. Sometimes you will see the change that year and, sometimes, the change won’t show up for several years. It’s amazing to think about!

I urge you to take a little time this week just for you! You do so much for others and we, sometimes, forget to take a break and take care of ourselves. For some ideas check out this post: You Do You During This Winter Break. Thank you for all that you do!