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Teachers - Heroes in Classrooms web posted February 15, 2010 By Ben Dawson COLUMNIST – In a day when so many of our society’s shortcomings are blamed on education, I’d like to say that I love teachers with all my heart. Every day I see heroes in classrooms and school systems all around me; very seldom do you actually hear about their great impact. You should all remember Dave Sanders - the teacher from Littleton, Colorado that gave his life to shield his students during the Columbine rampage. Or, you might recall seeing Jane Smith from Fayetteville, North Carolina on the Today Show. She gave a kidney to save her student’s life. You may even remember seeing a special about Doris Dillion, an outstanding and very dedicated teacher in San Jose that was stricken with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Doris seldom missed a day during the five years her body was being ravaged by the final stages of this horrific disease. She even moved from the classroom into the media center during her last days, and when she could no longer speak, she communicated by computer. Doris wrote to all the families in her school that she had one last lesson to teach, that dying is a part of living. How many of you remember when teacher Bob House from Georgia won a million dollars on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” If you looked him up to see how wealth had impacted his life, you would find both Bob and his wife still teaching since that is what they were called to do. But what you don’t hear are the everyday stories that are so real to all of us in education. What about the math teacher that realized a particular student never had pencils or paper? The only thing this child knew to do was put his head down while the others practiced. Yet, he had been placed under the eyes of a teacher that cared more for this child and his ability to learn than she cared about the lack of resources his parents provided. She would walk by his desk and say, “Oh, let me help you with the first problem because these are actually fun when you get going.” She just happened to have a stack of paper in her hand - enough to last the child the rest of the day- that she would leave on his desk as she moved on to help other children. The other students never noticed. Yes, she could have ranted about irresponsibility or just let the child take zeros, but she cared more about the welfare of a child than her money. I’m glad I know this person! J. Bradley-Assistant Principal at Fairland High School in Proctorville, Ohio said, “Schools don't teach values? The critics are dead wrong. Public education provides more Sunday School teachers than any other profession. You want heroes? For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the only hug they will get that day because the nation is living through the worst parenting in history. A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the story of her attempt to rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a stuffed animal on her desk ... one that said ‘I love you!’ He said he'd never been told that at home. This is a constant in today's society ... two million unwanted, unloved, abused children in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in.” Teachers spend from five hundred to a thousand dollars a year (varies by grade levels and school systems) out of their own pockets for student necessities and other items to make their classrooms function smoothly. I’m aware of times (too numerous to count) a teacher has paid for a child to go on a particular field trip, paid for lunch, or covered the cost of supplies needed for projects - or band - or books -or whatever - so a child would not experience being left out. I know teachers that give their own time to help struggling students after school. I know teachers that meet over and over with parents that need a listening ear, or with DSS workers to get help for an abuse case. Teachers leave their day jobs to go home and spend another three to four hours grading papers, reading essays, making powerpoints, calling parents, and finalizing tomorrow’s work (because we all know “if you fail to plan, plan to fail.”) On the weekends they spend countless hours developing the next week’s curriculum and constructing tests to match the standards. It has been proven over and over teachers work more hours in nine months than the average 40-hour employee does in a year. At least the effective ones do. And, please don’t even say we have our summers free! Things are certainly different than they were when I began in this profession. Teachers are having to work harder, work smarter, and invest more and more of themselves into the young lives sitting in their classrooms. Yes, I LOVE teachers, I am thankful for the dedicated ones, and I wish them all a Happy Valentine’s Day. © Copyright 2010
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