I have been a public schools music teacher for 20 years. I recently had the opportunity to receive some thanks from former students and it was most welcome. While thanking a teacher on here is nice, PLEASE take a minute to track them down and send them a message or, even better, stop by and tell them thanks.
I am lucky enough that the teacher who has meant the most to me is Mr. Wharton, my band director for 9th and 10th grade in high school, is now one of my closest friends. He recently retired and as a gift, his wife and I set up a group page on FB for all his former students to offer thanks. When we presented it to him at a private party, the tears flowed for quite a while - all of joy.
Nothing makes us happier than to see our former students as adults and successful in the world.
Things like that keep us sane when we are experiencing the following in an average work day - 14 hours of work, 20 parent emails to respond to, 2 student referrals to write, 1 IEP meeting to attend, 4 forms to fill out, 150 assessments to grade, 10-15 students to counsel, 1 Epi-pen to administer, 1 fellow teacher to counsel, 5 classes of 30 kids to plan for, 150 assessments to write, and all of this for what breaks down
hourly to less than minimum wage in most school districts until 10 years of experience.
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