School is starting this week. School is starting this week!! Hoorahs are heard around the globe as the fun but also tiring summer draws to an end.
Teachers are often absolutely wonderful and self-sacrificing creatures, but in their new role as parole officer/ behavioral management cop/ no child left behind drill sargeant/ they sometimes need extra loving care from parents -and unfortunately this goes beyond a nice crisp Red Delicious left on the desk.
Your life and your child's will run much more smoothly if you remember a few key ways to love their teacher:
1. Compliment their strengths -- Don't get to see them in action? Then observe a well-organized classroom, daily calendar, anything that shows you appreciate their effort and are paying attention.
2. Give credit - If your kid learns how to read this year (or to add or subtract) make sure to give credit to his or her teacher. Simply acknowledging their role can really help them feel supported.
3. Vote for a raise - Vote in favor of the next public education levy in your town, or state referendum increasing teacher wages. Paying teachers what they're worth goes a long way to decreasing teacher turnover.
4. Encourage your child to show respect - Nothing is as discouraging as a child whose bad manners and disruptions ruin it for the rest of the kids. Encourage your child to view their teacher as a person of authority, deserving of respect.
5. Don't gripe about teacher work days or early release days - Though it often seems as though at least half the school year is taken up by early release or teacher work days, these periods are crucial for teachers to get the prep time they need to do a good job.
6. Don't treat your child's teacher like a babysitter - It isn't a teacher's job to watch your child early before school or stay late after school to accomodate your work schedule. And while sometimes things come up, teachers aren't paid enough to play babysitter...
7. Bring them coffee -- A few mornings I brought my daughters' teacher a cup of coffee and you would have thought I'd hung the moon. A $4 latte bought me more goodwill than nearly anything else.
8. Volunteer - Most parents these days are too busy to volunteer at their children's school. If you can take vacation time or a few hours here or there to volunteer with a special project or field trip, it shows that you care about your child's education.
9. Occasional gifts - Thoughtful gifts to the teacher don't have to be expensive. A nice bottle of bubble bath and a thank-you note is usually deeply appreciated.
10. Show interest - In an age where each parent thinks his or her little precious is the most important child in the universe, you'll stand out if you can show you are capable of generating a more global concern for education or the size of his/her class, or other details of the school environment.
Maybe all of this will be viewed as pandering and unnecessary. I look at it as supporting a field of workers who are so dramatically underpaid and underappreciated it will be a miracle if teacher shortages don't plague all major cities within the next few years.
