The Teacher I Will Never Be

Once upon a time, an average high school student in constant competition with her above average friends, sat in an oh-so-boring History class.  

Mr. Smith was the teacher.  He sat at the front of the room, "large and in charge."  He lectured to us with his cup of coffee in hand.  He always used terms like "Smoke 'em if you got 'em."  Really?  The room was so plain and boring and the topic was exactly the same.

I've never pretended that History was my favorite subject.  And I did mention that I was average.  But what happened one day in that class, was anything but average.


It was the day of a test.  I sat in my seat with my book open hoping for some last minute information to leap into my head long enough to get on the paper.  That's when Mr. Smith walked in with his usual "I'm the best thing since sliced bread" attitude, asking us all if we were ready for our test.  Then he turned to me and said, "Benty, what are you doing?  It's not like any amount of studying would help you." 


WHAT?


I got up and walked out of the class. 


That's the teacher that I will never be.


Alexis

Before It All Begins

Do you know what went on before your child went to school on the first day?  Do you know how many hours went into getting ready for that day?  Do you really understand the preparation that occurred? 

Your child's teacher probably spent 8 hours a day IN the classroom and about 12 hours of their OWN time at home planning, cutting, gluing, making, and creating the many things that will entice your child to learn each day.  Your child's teacher tirelessly organized and plotted the various nooks and corners of your child's home-away-from-home.  

Getting a classroom ready is more than setting up desks and putting up a bulletin board.  It's buying bins, labels, markers, Ziplocs, colored paper, borders, pocket charts, and sentence strips.  It's making the classroom cheerful and bright.  It's designing the set up in a functional, yet fun way.  It's organizing books, materials and children's spaces in such a way that works...and if it doesn't work, reworking it all again.

Teachers spend a hundreds of dollars of their own money in order to provide all of this for your children.  Did you know that?  Not many do.  All teachers....public school teachers, private school teachers, preschool to high school.  They all do it.  

So when your child goes into their classroom for the first time or the one hundred and first time, think of all that your teacher does behind the scenes.  And thank them!

Alexis