Today is National Teacher's Appreciation day.
I'm thankful that my teacher in first grade noticed that I was having trouble reading, and got me the help I needed so that I didn't become illiterate.
I'm thankful that my third grade teacher encouraged my creativity.
I'm thankful that my High School Biology teacher got me to take an interest in science.
I'm thankful for the many teachers I had who helped shape me into what I am today.
I'm thankful that my kid's teachers have encouraged them to take interest in learning.
So to any teachers out there (if there are any here) here's to you. Thanks for doing what you do.
I'm thankful to my first semester English teacher when I went back to college 4 years ago. I was really unsure what to do at the time and she encouraged me greatly during my night classes. Her encouragement is probably the reason I've stuck with it and I'm a semester away from getting my Bachelors Degree today.
I'm thankful for my English teacher in college. She was such a hottie..
Edit** I also had the highest score in the class with a 98%.. It's a wonder she didn't fail me as much as I flirted..
As the son of a career middle school principal, and the brother of a former elementary school teacher and a current high school teacher, I can attest to the dedication and sacrifice of public school educators.
They do it because they love it. All teachers deserve our respect and support.
I went to a very small school in Jacksonville that never received any kind of accreditation. Despite this, my First Grade Teacher (she since went on to teach Kindergarten and maintained the same standard) required all of her students to be able to read, unassisted, prior to "graduating" from her class. It was a painful experience that year, but we all learned to read at a relatively high level as well as spelling and grammar.
Despite me not being very well read, there is nothing that I cannot read to gain information and that is due to her efforts and unwillingness to let her students fail to live up to a standard.
When I entered the Service, I had to wait two months for the waiver to clear which allowed me to enter a technical field without an accredited diploma. People who requested marijuana waivers were granted those within the hour.
I did not get a good education by the State's standards, but I graduated from Nuclear Power School, became a Senior-In-Rate Mechanical Operator, and graduated college all due to having that First Grade teacher instill in all of us her standards.
I think about her everyday and I hope that every student has a teacher as wonderful as her.
As I grew up I felt that many teachers simply cared about their paychecks and not the students. I can only really think of three teachers that I felt put their heart into their works. One was an elementary teacher whom went out of her way to ensure that every child understood the material, and was doing well in general. I had a Biology teacher in High School (he was missing a leg long story for another thread) whom was funny, inspiring, and challenged his students to think of ways to improve everything in their life. The last teacher was a history teacher, well before the History channel ever existed on television, he made history come alive instead of simply writing notes until your wrist hurt.