What do we value for our children?
“Appreciate” is a pertinent word to represent how we think about teachers, because it means to understand the true value of something — or someone. To consider the value of teachers, we should ask ourselves, “Who are our children’s teachers?” and “Why should we appreciate what they do?”
At Rollins College, we have a Pathways to Teaching program that enrolls “paraprofessionals” in a Bachelors degree program with certification. These “paras” are the people who show up at their school daily by 7:30, do whatever is asked of them by school officials and certified teachers, and focus on the needs of students all day long. The paras are older and much more experienced than other undergraduate students in college programs. They are valued by their public school but are largely invisible to the wider community. And they earn astonishingly low wages for this vital work with children. So, one major group we appreciate as we celebrate National Teacher Appreciation Week (May 2-6) are these fine people who want to be certified teachers, so they can have an even larger impact on our children.
Another group to recognize is teachers who educate students with special needs in our schools. My wife is an elementary special education teacher in a local public school district. I cannot overstate how much I admire what she does. With a calm and loving demeanor — and a great deal of knowledge about the school curriculum and effective ways of teaching — she guides her students to learn the content and to develop the sorts of academic and social skills that will aid them throughout their lives. When she talks generally about her students at dinnertime, her commitment to their wellbeing is evident. When we discuss the difficulties that she is having with a struggling student, her insights about their learning and their needs are striking.
The thousands of other teachers in our local school districts are doing their level best to educate our children. Sometimes, the political maneuvering at the state level makes this task much more challenging, as noted by recent educational interventions. Teachers may be asking themselves questions such as these:
What children’s books are acceptable to read and should not be purged from library shelves?
What math books are deemed to have too much about “race” or about “social-emotional learning” in their contents?
What words about diverse families or gender identity are determined to be acceptable or unacceptable to discuss with children — and at what ages?
At the center of all this, there is the matter of who gets to answer these questions in whatever way they wish. Should it be legislators in Tallahassee who likely know very little about teaching or curriculum or what is good for children’s development? Or should it be people with a strong educational background and no discernible political positions to display?
These ideological battles are making the job of teaching even more difficult, and they may lead many certified and not-yet-certified teachers to wonder whether this is a profession they want to be involved with. This will only exacerbate the frequent teacher shortages we face in Florida.
And yet — I return to the positive, to the initial call for appreciating educators. In spite of whatever happens in state capital buildings or school district offices that affects teachers, in spite of the pandemic, online teaching, mask-wearing, and the myriad other obstacles, they continue to be there for their students.
The other night, my wife was talking about a student who told her “Monday is my favorite day, because it is an ESOL day” (when this non-native speaker spends extra time learning English with her). This is emblematic of why people teach: To know that they make a deep difference in children’s lives. And that is why we should value what they do, this day and every other.