Show your appreciation to teachers

How to truly show appreciation to your child’s teacher every week:

1. Speak about teachers positively and respectfully. If you personally disagree with the way school staff are handling something, keep it between adults. Children don’t need to be burdened with the knowledge and stress of adult conflicts.

2. If your child’s teacher reaches out to you for support, hear them out and do what you can on your end. If a teacher takes the extra time to make a call and/or send an email, they are past the point of being able to handle the situation on their own.

3. Talk to your child about the challenges of teaching a room full of children; preparation, classroom management, diverse learning styles, etc. Teach them that they can assist their instructor by doing their personal best and encouraging those around them to as well.

4. Teach your child to advocate for themselves by asking for help. This helps a teacher assess the effectiveness of their lessons and teaching style, and alleviate frustration on both ends. A person becomes a teacher because of their love and passion for the subject matter and their desire to pass it on, certainly not for the paycheck.

5. Finally, help your children to see their teachers as people; people who have personal lives, a personal history, personal struggles, and even bad days. This creates a foundation for kindness, compassion, and empathy. Teachers aren’t perfect, but neither are our children.

Meghan Ferol

Fairfax