The thing that keeps me going as a teacher more than anything else is the genuine appreciation I get. For example, the seniors at my school just had their last day of regular classes and some of them said some really kind and complimentary things to me. The emotions in these moments can be overwhelming. After all, one of the hardest things about being a teacher is getting to know and mentor some amazing people then have to say goodbye to them year after year after year. I'm no good at good-byes.
Every year at my school the parents' association holds a tea for the faculty, which I also take joy from, especially when individual parents pay me compliments. It feels good to do work that makes a positive impact on people.
None of this genuine appreciation has to do with the thing we call Teacher Appreciation Week. The people who are kind enough to appreciate me would do so with or without some kind of official occasion. Teacher Appreciation Week is not about students and parents appreciating teachers, it is a time for lip service intended to keep teachers satisfied with scraps from the table.
Before the pandemic our pay sucked and our burdens kept increasing. Since the pandemic things have reached the breaking point and teachers are quitting in huge numbers.
Over the past two years teachers have had to completely overhaul their entire practice from top to bottom to deal with the pandemic, some times more than once. In my case I had to convert everything to remote learning, and then to hybrid, and then to face to face, but a face to face accommodating for students missing due to individual quarantines and students suffering from the mental consequences of what they had endured. Most other white collar workers got to stay home (and complain online that teachers are lazy.) We have had to switch to doing things entirely differently more than once, and for the most part, we did it well.
During the pandemic my school, my wife's school, and my children's school had totally different protocols. This meant having to go to work in person when my kids could not physically attend school, a juggling act that almost broke me. Even when we were all home I would run out of a Zoom class, quickly prepare them a lunch, frantically respond to student messages while cramming ramen down my mouth, and jump back into a Zoom class. 10-12 work days were the norm, and then I had to start commuting again on top of that.
When I told it was time to go back in person every day last April I was given less than a week's notice. At that time my wife was already back full time, but my kids' school was still fully remote. Like I said, it almost broke me.
But I am still one of the fortunate ones. My school has taken COVID safety very seriously. We are a progressive private school and so I have not been flogged in the current wave of cultural combat singling out teachers and trying to destroy them for teaching the actual history of this country. These attacks are our compensation for all the work we did on the front lines keeping children educated during an unprecedented emergency. Our Herculean labors have been paid with scorn, derision, and hate. Thankfully it's a hot labor market and more teachers can escape this awful situation and find something to do with their time that pays more money and costs less stress.
After all of this all teachers are going to get from their political leaders and administrators is a pile of canting flattery. If Teacher Appreciation Week doesn't come with smaller classes, more autonomy, better pay, and more respect the people who trot out the same bullshit platitudes this every year can just keep their big mouths shut. Just one of the heartfelt letters I got this year from a student thanking me for their college letter of recommendation is equivalent to a thousand of the bland emails from school boards and political leaders. At least I knew the student actually meant it. Unless Teacher Appreciation Week comes with actual material improvements for teachers I will keep assuming it is worse than meaningless.
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