As we enter into Teacher Appreciation Week I wanted to give a shout out to teachers.
Helping someone gain understanding and knowledge, so they can use it, share it, or carry it forward to improve their lives later, is a skill and quality not everyone has. To stand in front of a group of young people (who would often choose to be anywhere but where they are), keep their attention, and share with those students what they need to take the next step in their learning, is an art. Breaking down how to learn into its component parts, identifying where a student is lacking the knowledge they need to advance, and delivering that in a way that is meaningful is a skill.
Imagine the teacher sitting with the student who has failed multiple times to understand a concept, who sees what the student is missing and fills in the gap. It might be a phrase, an instruction, an analogy or metaphor, a set of building blocks, a line of code on a screen. The possibilities are infinite.
But it’s in that moment that the most amazing thing happens! That spot where a student, apprentice, athlete … you name it, didn’t know something … and then they did.
They solved the problem.
They made the pass.
They read the passage.
It goes on and on.
That moment is replicated minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day everywhere across this great state of ours!
It happens in our public schools, it happens in our charter schools, it happens in our private schools, it happens in our home schools, it happens in our trade schools, it happens in our colleges and universities, it happens on the athletic field, it happens in industry where apprentices learn from their mentors.
Teaching happens everywhere! And it is concentrated in schools throughout Idaho where large numbers of students and teachers come together every school day.
George Bernard Shaw wrote in his play Man and Superman in 1903, “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches”. This phrase has been used by many to diminish the teaching profession. The phrase in the play was intended to criticize those who talk about or teach revolution rather than acting on it, not specifically targeting educators. Its misapplication has been just one of many attempts to malign those who have chosen to make the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and learning their career and profession.
Teachers everywhere, here in Middleton (Go Vikes!), and across the state of Idaho, have chosen to make teaching their profession in thousands of different venues. Not because they failed to achieve in another profession, but because being a part of that learning process and helping students reach their potential excited them and they decided it was the role they wanted to play in our society.
You have the occasional bad actors that get the headlines. And they should be held accountable and systems should be corrected. But all too often that is where the focus of our attention stays.
Our time and attention deserve better. Too often, we fixate on the small portion that is negative and allow it to define our view of the whole. Let’s remember the overwhelmingly positive majority of our teachers everywhere who do make a difference for their students. Who do have the skills to impart knowledge to others. Who do choose to make teaching their life. Who can DO and so they teach!
As teacher appreciation moves forward this week, I would ask that each of you who read this, take a moment and reflect on the teachers you’ve had in your life. Think of a moment when you had that amazing experience of not knowing something…then knowing it! If you know how to reach that teacher, reach out and let them know. Let’s flood the social media spaces and communication lines with those positive messages. Let’s show those teachers, wherever they might be, our appreciation!
Marc Gee is the superintendent of the Middleton School District.
