Teachers deserve more than just one week of appreciation!

I enjoy seeing my former colleagues enjoying the benefits of "Teacher Appreciation Week." They are treated to special treats, gifts, and bonuses during this one week of the school year. But you know what?

They work every day of the school year! They spend time outside of school all year long! They are grading. They are planning. They are meeting parents. They are writing lesson plans. They are creating activities, lessons, and educational games. They are paying for materials out of their own pockets to pay for some of them. They are attending trainings and doing their own research to make their lessons. And it's for our kids.

During school? They are corralling many students in a classroom, getting these kiddos to work together and separately. They are assessing needs and addressing those needs, sometimes by creating many different versions of the same activity in order to accommodate every need in the classroom!

They are being parents to students whose parents don't always teach them social norms. They are disciplinarians, they are babysitters, they are cheerleaders and coaches. They are shoulders for the kids who are suffering through troubles at home.

Teachers deserve to be appreciated for more than just one week a year. Every teacher who invests time and emotion into their students deserves to be appreciated every single day of the years. Parents and students don't understand how many tears have been shed for them.

Some teachers aren't the "popular" ones that all students remember, but they work just as hard. They receive fewer accolades and don't get mentioned quite so much. But they worked hard, too. They were there for their students. They guaranteed student success in life just as much as the popular teachers did. And, they deserve just as much appreciation because they continued without the accolades and without the shout-outs.

Teachers who stayed in the game? I salute you! I was privileged to be one of your number for 18 years. I celebrate your time, effort, and stamina. You deserve many more thanks than you are given.

But, I'll give you mine. :)