Teacher Appreciation Week-- Monday

Almost everyone has been to school at sometime or another.  Most of us have attended for at least 13 years (kindergarten and 1-12).

Therefore, almost everyone I meet is an expert on teachers and the hows, whats, and whys of teaching.  Y'all crack me up.  I love you but you crack me up.

I know what you're thinking.  It's so, so easy.  The teacher stands up in front of the kids, tells them what to do, the kids do it, you go home at 4:00 and get June, July and August off for vacation.  Oh, yeah, teachers are overpaid-- three months off.

hahahahahahahahaha

Whoa!

Great teachers make it look easy.  They're well prepared.  They have the materials ready.  There's no down time in their classroom.  They have studied all the material and are prepared to accelerate individuals or remediate individuals at a moments notice.  They understand and accept that students are at different levels,

Great teachers anticipate problems before they occur.  They have eyes in the back of their head.  They enjoy their students and understand what is developmentally appropriate for the age level they are teaching.  Great teachers give respect and demand respect in their classrooms.  They don't play.  They are business.

Great teachers understand what a student should know before leaving their class.  They are concerned.  They are realistic.  Great teachers differentiate instruction for students and for their parents.  They are optimists.  They came into this profession to help people.  It is a service industry.

Great teachers are lifetime learners.  They realize they don't know everything.  But they give everything they have to their students.

Teacher of the day:

Mrs. Benson.  My first grade teacher.  We made butter.  We made cottage cheese.  The class wrote experience stories.  I got a new pair of brown shoes-- they were slip on loafers.  She read to us.  She liked us.  We liked her.  I think of her in a white blouse, a blue skirt, and a broach at her neck.  We used paste.  We learned to our manuscript printing as we worked at our seats.  Dick, Jane, Spot and Fluff were part of our reading program.   Thank you, Mrs. Benson.  I wanted to be just like you.