From a student's perspective

It is not an exaggeration to say a great teacher can change a student's life and this is exactly what my teacher did for me. She is not only teaching me things I need to learn daily but things that I will remember for the rest of my life. Whenever I think about my teacher the words Passion, Creativity, Staying Positive and Encouragement come to mind. My mom always reminds me how well I should behave and how I should always show respect regardless of how I feel towards my teacher because our teachers spend as much if not more time with us than our parents. I find it a little crazy to think that Teachers have us more during the day than our own Parents- Imagine if our own Parents had us all day, every day AND had to teach us? My mom can not even help me with my Math homework!!!

Think about how our teachers are expected to come in every day with a smile, a plan to impact and make a difference to 20-25 students who all come from different backgrounds, families, situations and at the end of the year we are all supposed to have learned the same things. From what I am hearing our community is making our teachers feel like they are not worth it and that makes me feel sad. I know my teacher leaves her own family every day, misses out on her own son's class parties, concerts and special events to be here in our classroom. If my mom had to miss all my important days to teach other children I would hope she would feel valued and appreciated at the end of the day. I can honestly say that despite what kind of day my teacher might be having personally she always starts our day with a huge smile on her face and comes in with a positive attitude. I also know that when I am having a bad day or in a mood I bring it to school and take it out on my teacher, how fair is that?

I am always hearing that our teachers are expected to influence many important characteristics in a student's life, they are expected to teach, develop, mold and shape a child, they are responsible for our generations future-wouldn't we want to spend the most money on the people who are helping raise our future???

I really hope our teachers get what they are asking for, what they have earned, because they DESERVE IT!!!!

Anthony age 9