What a teacher wants...

This past week was a week to appreciate teachers...I want appreciation from my state government. I want a thank you that goes beyond just those two words. I want our state government and leaders to realize what some of us teachers do for our students. This is how I envision a thank you...

• Thank you for going beyond your contract hours. Thank you for coming in early and staying late. I know that you earn a salary, but when you end up calculating per hour what you make, it's not what you're worth. (Because like all teachers who care, I work during the summer.)
• Thank you for caring. Some of the students that come into your classroom don't have a cheerleader at home who believes they can be something some day. Thanks for instilling this into them at a young age.
• Thank you for going beyond and working with that one child who just needs a little more than the school day can give. Thanks for being willing to give up time so he can maybe begin to tread a little water and not drown. Thanks for not giving up.
• Thanks for instilling a desire into your class to read for real purposes and to write for real purposes. Thanks for showing them that writing occurs all of the time. Thanks for making your classroom fun and engaging and allowing students to be who they are.
• Thanks for laughing with your class. Learning should be fun.
• Thanks for letting your class teach. Some of the greatest lessons they learn are the ones that the students "taught". You'd be surprised at how many lessons we refer back to the student that explained that concept first to us...whether it's sliding through the whole word, reading the word shrugged or sighed, or measuring with rulers to see how big objects really are.

So, will I really get this thank you from my state government? No...but it'd be nice, wouldn't it? Instead of telling us what's wrong, tell us what's going well and work on one thing at one time...that's what I do in my workshop with the students.