Thank a Teacher Day!

As a for­mer teacher and a par­ent of a soon-to-be 6 year old, Friday’s events have shaken me to the core. My heart is absolutely bro­ken for the fam­i­lies and entire com­mu­nity in Con­necti­cut. As a high school teacher I wor­ried about the pos­si­bil­ity that an event like Friday’s could occur on my cam­pus. I often played sce­nar­ios in my head of what I would do should that occur; what fur­ni­ture could be eas­ily moved as a bar­ri­cade; where the safest place in the room was; etc. And, while no amount of fore­thought could pos­si­bly pre­pare you for some­thing like this, I do know that as a teacher, in the time of any cri­sis, issue, or scary moment, your first instinct is to pro­tect those kids in your care.

In today’s soci­ety, teach­ers all too often get a bad rap. But on Fri­day, teach­ers put them­selves in harm’s way & had to think on their feet in a way that most of us can­not even fathom. I imag­ine the amaz­ing sto­ries of hero­ism that have just started to emerge will grow & con­tinue as the days go on. The prin­ci­pal & school psy­chol­o­gist who died try­ing to stop the gun­man. Vic­to­ria Soto, the 1st grade teacher who gave her life as she became the human shield between the gun­man and the pre­cious lit­tle ones in her care. Kaitlin Roig, the 1st grade teacher who bar­ri­caded her­self & many stu­dents inside a bath­room …“I told the kids I love them and I was so happy they were my students…If they started cry­ing, I would take their face and tell them, ‘It’s going to be OK. I wanted that to be the last thing they heard, not the gun­fire in the hall.”

Their sto­ries are amaz­ingly heroic and yet I’m con­fi­dent that just about any teacher in this coun­try would have done the same. It’s part of the job. Part of a teacher’s heart. They care. Not just about your child’s aca­d­e­mic suc­cess, but for their safety. For their pro­tec­tion. For their well-being.

Teach­ing can be a hard job. I remem­ber the tears, the frus­tra­tion, the days that I wanted to quit. In those times, the pos­i­tive notes from par­ents and stu­dents helped keep me going. Even though this is my 3rd year away from the class­room, I still have a spe­cial folder with those cards and let­ters and notes. One such let­ter from a par­ent I received dur­ing my sec­ond year teach­ing was framed and sat behind my desk the rest of my years in the classroom.

So, please join me on Mon­day, Decem­ber 17, 2012 to take a moment to thank a teacher! 

It can be a quick note, an email, a let­ter. A gift, a hug, a phone call. Just let them know how much they’re appre­ci­ated (and don’t for­get the high school teach­ers either!). I know how hard it is to walk into a class­room after events like these. The what-ifs, the con­cern, the heart­break. So, a lit­tle some­thing spe­cial this week will prob­a­bly mean the world to them!

If you work in media, join hun­dreds of blog­gers through­out the US in rec­og­niz­ing Thank a Teacher Day 2012, cre­ated in lov­ing mem­ory of those who lost their lives in New­town, CT, and in honor of the hun­dreds of thou­sands of teach­ers who would do what they did for your child.

Post this image on your web­site, pin it, share it! Help us to reach other par­ents and grand­par­ents to thank those teach­ers for all that they do.

*Spe­cial thanks to Julie from Juliev­erse for cre­at­ing the images!