Thank a Teacher

From my observations and from the various independent reports that have been published, in Ireland, the majority of parents believe that teachers are doing a good job with their children. Sometimes, it can be difficult as a teacher to see this because the media, in general, have been less than positive about our profession since the collapse of the Celtic Tiger. One might be forgiven for thinking that it was teachers who caused the whole crash but this article isn’t about defending our profession. I think we need to celebrate it.

I was reminded of the expression: “If you can read this, thank a teacher”, recently and it made me think about the wonderful feeling I get when a parent or visitor to my school thanks me for something that I’ve done – that little extra thing to make their child’s time in school nicer. At the beginning of the school year, I created a form on my school’s web site called, “Thank a teacher”, where anyone has the opportunity to thank a member of staff for anything. Once the form is filled in, the staff member receives the form and, hopefully, feels that nice warm glow that I get when I’m thanked.
One might ask why teachers should be thanked. For example, we don’t thank any other profession for anything. Apart from this being untrue, teaching, I believe, is a job that requires a lot more than simply teaching information to children. A parent said to me on enrollment of his Junior Infant, that he was giving me the most precious thing in his life for half a day everyday and trusting me to look after it. He added that every parent  is doing this everyday. Providing parents with a way of giving a small token of gratitude to their teacher is a nice idea and it’s certainly appreciated.