Teachers

Nurses and doctors are having a hard time now with Covid-19. They are the heroes that many people know about. Now, is the time to turn to our other everyday heroes and those are what we call "teachers". Teachers are the educators of today and tomorrow. Teachers are taking time to shape the brain of your child, so they can grow up to be successful. Every teacher has a goal to set your child up for success. They mold the minds of tomorrow, they are in the process of creating the next prime minister, the next nurse, the next inventor, the next doctor, the next Nobel prize winner. Those successes happen because of a teacher a child cannot do that on their own. Of course your child is motivated to be great but the teacher is the person that keeps your child motivated to finish at the top. They are the unsung every day heroes that we forget to thank. I think that parents are finally realizing how hard it is to be a teacher. They often drop off their child at school and head off for work and do not see them until the end of the day. During the school day the teacher checks your child's science homework, checks their English essay, and helps them out with whatever math problem they have, teachers are the people who are willing to skip their lunch to help out a child who needs assistance in a subject. Teachers are the ones that children go to to get help with their calculus homework in the early morning. The teacher most likely does not like getting up early to get to school, but they do it anyways in case a student walks in hoping to get help with a problem they cannot solve.

When I was in high school I was very ignorant and I thought I did not need help in any subject, when truth be told I did. I needed more help than I was willing to admit. I should have gone to morning tutorials and got help, but I did not care. I remember sitting in drama class and my teacher asked tell me something that you are proud of what you did this school year. I sat there and could not think of a single thing to say, I had not gotten any high grades other than in religious studies, but I was not about to blurt that out. Other students were talking about their math grades and biology and then when it was my turn I said I learned how to bake a cake, which was true, but that was the best I could think of.

It was not until post-secondary that I started to care about my grades. I still did not go often to see my professors but I felt better about my grades and myself and that was all thanks to my one English professor, he taught me creative writing. He taught me that you should write whatever you want because the chance that someone will read it is very unlikely and it made me realize that I could write a fantasy novel and make it my own without having any restrictions I always thought I had to follow some golden rules about writing and that I could not make it my own. This professor really liked the things that I wrote. I would share it with the rest of the class and he would pause and write down a sentence that I read out loud and he would ask me about it, he would ask me why I wrote the sentence the way I did and I would have the chance to explain it. He was one of the best teachers I ever had. I remember in grade 4 when my math teacher asked me to come and see her during recess so she could help me with my math and I didn't instead I went to recess and only now I realize what a mean thing to do that was, I just let her sit in her classroom waiting for me. She asked me about it later and then one time I decided to stay behind and she taught me how to get better at my multiplications and my grades only went up.

Teachers are willing to stay behind after hours to help a student and that is an amazing thing to do for any student. Not many of us like to stay after work for any longer than we have to. However, after staying after school with that student the teacher then goes home and instead of binge-watching their favorite television show, they sit down at their kitchen or coffee table and start going over tomorrows lesson plan and start grading papers and essays until late at night when their husband or wife is begging them to come to bed. Then, the day repeats itself.

Being a teacher is a hard task and I know for a fact that I would not want that life for me, so I am standing and applauding the teachers for doing what they do, for making students better learners and for creating beautiful humans with wonderful minds. I know for a fact I do not have the patience to teach and not only that, but to put up with so many kids from kids that throw pencils, to kids that have a hard time sitting in one place. Teachers come home and they do not stop being teachers, teachers are also learners in order to be a teacher you need to be willing to learn from your students and have an open mind is very important for this job. Here's to all the teachers that we have often forgotten to thank. I say thank-you for shaping our brightest minds of tomorrow.