Here’s a secret, kids: Teachers are just as nervous as you on the first day of school.
They worry about the class they’re going to get. They wonder if they’ll seem too nice or too mean. They pray it’s going to be a good year.
That time they spend away from you? It’s not frittered away with other teachers in a secret room where they smoke cigarettes and swap stories. It’s probably devoted to making copies, finding supplies and – get this – going to the bathroom.
Homework? They hate it, too. Would you want to spend three or four hours at night GRADING those papers you haphazardly pulled together? They do it because they know it will tell them something about your progress.
Tests? They’re a bear as well. Entire weekends can vanish thanks to illegible answers on midterms. Teachers don’t flyspeck your work , determined to find mistakes. They search for hope – an answer that might be close to what they’re seeking.
People are also reading…
Multiple choice, matching and fill-in-the-blank questions are easy to grade. But they don’t tell as much as an essay question. There, teachers can sense if you’ve grasped a concept.
Papers are equally problematic. But they reveal as much as an articulate answer in an in-class discussion.
The first day of school your teachers are probably worried about remembering names. They want to have them mastered by the end of the week but they may need to do some remedial work on the weekend. Those elaborate seating charts and alphabetical roll calls aren’t designed to separate you from your best friend. They’re meant to trigger your name.
If you raise your hand in class, your teachers get a chance to test their recall ability. They don’t “pick on you” because they think you’re not listening. They want to get to know you, just as you want to get to know the subject being taught.
The kid who insists on answering every answer posed to the class isn’t the pain you think. Sometimes, he or she is a teacher’s life preserver. Yes, someone was listening. Yes, someone was learning.
Want to make your teachers smile? Participate in classroom discussions. They’ll love you for it – and maybe even leave school that day feeling just a little better about their jobs.
As the year wears on, your teachers will have enough material on you to complete an FBI background check. You may think they’re clueless but you drop enough secrets during the year that could make the school’s “permanent record” bulge. They know everything that goes on during school hours and quite a bit that doesn’t. If those teachers advise clubs, sports or other outside activities, you can assume they’ll know more than your parents ever will.
If you make fun of your teachers (and, let’s face it, who hasn’t approximated their “tone”?), they’ll know. (Even if you’ve only shared the information with one person in a parking ramp in Washington, D.C.)
In your mind, they’re hired to be in a room with you for eight hours a day, teaching specific subjects according to nationally mandated standards. But, really, they’re more than automatons spewing facts. They’re parents. They’re counselors. They’re bosses. And, sometimes, they’re friends.
When the school year ends and you’re ready to move on to new challenges, they are, too. But, down deep, there’s a little part of you that stays with them.
Maybe it’s a smile. Perhaps it’s a joke. Hopefully, it’s a problem you overcame because they helped you find the solution.
Whatever the impression, it’s one that will change them, make them wiser and, hopefully, make them swell with pride years later.
Want to bring them to tears? Don’t act up. Don’t cause trouble. Don’t talk back.
Just offer six words: “Thank you for being my teacher.”
I guarantee they’ll work.
