If I had the time to do it "Right", I'd make a handmade card for each.
If I had one more set of hands, I'd make those handmade cards, I can see them now, ooh they're pretty...look at that one with the sea blue ocean glass beads on it.
If I had the energy, I'd make these hands, and feet, get up and MOVE, to Michael's or Hobby Lobby, that's what I'd do.
However, eh hem...I do not have the time nor the energy (heart I have) to accomplish this task today. These teachers, your children's and mine, deserve so much more than they receive from us as parents.
They are NOT, I repeat NOT babysitters. They are Educators.
Some of this nations most talented and most underpaid.
They are spat at, yelled at, ignored, and completely disrespected.
It only progresses as the child becomes a young adult, and if you don't believe me, just look here. You can keep digging through Youtube, it only gets worse.
I was raised in a different era.
They had corporal punishment then, something considered abuse in this generation of teaching...but...if memory serves me, and it does every other Tuesday after a full moon...those "Problem" kids responded to the discipline, usually quite fast.
Now this post isn't about whether or not corporal punishment was and or is effective, it's about TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK.
It's about being grateful if your child is excelling, and hopeful if they aren't because of teachers. It's certainly not because we as parents have done it, if it were they'd all be home schooled by Meth addicts. (NOT to imply all home schoolers are Meth addicts, only the ones in Hennessey)
I'm trying to be as civil as I can, while making a point.
If every other neighborhood school had a Principal as dedicated to her school, staff, children and parents as Wilson Arts Integration, and if every other neighborhood school had parents who believed as Wilson parents believe, who took action as Wilson parents do, (and it's not about money, it's about ACTION) then every other neighborhood school would begin coming back up.
Mer-boy may not like having to leave his video games and comic books five days a week, but by gosh he knows how to read those video games and comic books.
Each one of Mer's teachers, from the least to the greatest in contact, has had a profound impact on my child. Each Teacher has a different style, approach, communication technique, some like to get dirty with the little mongrels, others prefer teaching from a far.
Some control, control, control, while others let it slide. The ones who use humor reach Mer the fastest and deepest and will never be forgotten in his heart.
Mer, I was told, would never learn, never catch up, "Never be capable of doing what his peers did academically speaking", from not one, but four "Specialists".
Those "Specialists" never met the Educators at Wilson Arts Integration School.
One day after a bitter divorce, loss of home and all the messiness that goes with it, I stumbled upon this neighborhood school. (the thought of driving Mer back to his old school every day made me want to cry) I went to my first PTA meeting blown away by all the absolute passion and alive magic at Wilson.
As a single parent, life is just what it is. Sometimes hard, sometimes hardly coherent, I persevered. Working two jobs, working nights, working 60-80 hours a week, missing PTA meetings, forgetting about awards assemblies, shoving Mer's IEP down anyones throat who dared to speak (which involves opening of the mouth)
I was John Wayne meets Martha Stewart, with Ellen's smart assisms thrown in for effect.
I kicked (not knocked) in doors and demanded my child be handled with kid cloves (silk lined kid cloves no less) My presence was unwelcome, unwarranted while these amazing teachers, in all their years of experience and specialty training...just smiled ( I wont even write what was most likely going through their heads) Probably hoping against hope we'd be long gone by this year.
The Staff &Teachers at Wilson Arts Integration School, have saved Mer's, given him a foundation to which he can build on, that's what education is about. It's not just social integration we send our children away from us for, it's not just learning the necessary tools of survival in the world, educational or otherwise, it's to have adult role models other than our parents.
Adult role models.
Adult male role models if you will.
Mer has a mother, now far more than ever in the last three years.
A father figure he has not. By their very presence in his life on a daily basis, these male teachers, coaches, and other dads are having an impact on my son whether they like it or not.
When a school like Wilson embraces a family, and that's what they do, it helps not only the child but the other family members also. The saying "It takes a Village" comes to my mind.
My heart, the broken, cold, hard one...has begun to soften over the last three months. Mer's Psychologist tested him yesterday, he's reading at a 6th grade level.
There's a perceptual problem somewhere were trying to get to the bottom of, so we know how to help him. It's cruelly unfair to all involved...the overcrowding, lack of understanding, lack of support.
Our Educators are not babysitters, they spend a good portion of their own income to obtain the items needed in the classroom. Remember: They are paid of the lowest in the nation and are in the top five best educated in the country.
No teacher can teach well with 30 kids in her class.
Think back to your own 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade class picture, THINK about how small your class was.
It takes a village, so be a part of your village. Don't wait for teacher appreciation week (although formal acknowledgment is vital)
My Gratitude:
Mrs Beverly Story - Principal
Mrs. Karolyn Corbett - 3rd Grade
Mrs. Barbara Adams - Lab
Ms. Marty Fowler - P.E. - Rhythm & Movement
Mr. Greg Eskridge - Rhythm & Movement - Drama
Mr. Lanny Schuh - Visual Arts
Mr. Andrew Hoppers - 2nd Grade
Dr. Pamela Hoppers - Librarian
Mr. Neal Kellogg - Music
Ms. Pamela Miller - Counselor
Mrs Rebecca Anderson - Strings
Mrs Judy Jaworsky - Secretary
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