In Celebration Of Teachers

Teacher Appreciation Week – The Back Story

          May is known for several things, such as the arrival of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, Mother’s Day celebrations, Memorial Day, and Cinco De Mayo. Another milestone this month is Teacher Appreciation Week, which begins on the first Monday of May.

The story begins in 1944 when a teacher from Arkansas, Mattye White Woodridge, wrote to politicians and educational professionals proposing a day set aside to appreciate teachers. When her letters reached the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, Roosevelt lobbied members of Congress to make this a national celebration.

However, this was not met with universal acceptance in Congress, and until 1983, the occasion was celebrated on a state level. However, in 1984, the first National Teacher Appreciation Day was officially celebrated and subsequently extended to a week.

According to the National Education Association, the celebration focuses on “a day (and then a week) for honoring teachers and recognizing the lasting contributions they make to our lives.”

Anecdotal Evidence Of Teachers Impacting Students

I worked as a school psychologist for thirty years, observing how teachers can touch their students’ minds, hearts, and souls. Educators indeed wear so many hats, with actual instructional time being just a portion of their vital role. Teachers are also motivators, therapists, surrogate parents, coaches, nurses, and event planners, to name just a few.

The following memory illustrates the power of the teacher-student relationship:

“It was in the first grade that I initially encountered my problems with reading. I didn’t learn to read as quickly as other kids. I was lucky. I had a first-grade teacher who knew there was more to little girls and boys who were slow readers and better ways to help them by shaming them or punishing them.

My teacher was very kind… when it was my turn to read aloud, she would take a seat next to me and put her arm around me. Her arm took away any embarrassment I might have felt as I stammered and stumbled over the words.

Her kind nature and soft arm took out the damaging disabilities of fear, shame, and believing that something was wrong with me.

Had I had a different first-grade teacher, I likely would have acquired the toxic disabilities of shame, fear, and selling myself short. I will always be grateful to her for giving me such an excellent start.”

This wonderful story is recalled by Dr. Ned Hallowell, a child psychiatrist and one of the world’s leading authorities on ADHD. What I love about it is how it so wonderfully encapsulates how affirming and life-changing a child’s relationship with a teacher can be. This teacher intuitively knew that the relationship she would forge with this boy could transform his life, and it indeed did.

 I also had trouble learning to read, and my first-grade teacher was able to help transform me into becoming a voracious reader. Remarkably, years later, I ran into her at a library of all places, and we recognized each other. I thanked her for helping instill in me a lifelong love of reading and how she helped to push away my self-doubts and desire to avoid reading.

Empirical Evidence of Teachers Impacting Students

It is not just anecdotal evidence that can be cited on teachers’ crucial role in their students’ lives; empirical research has also produced data demonstrating this. Middle school students who were part of a twenty-year longitudinal study and reported having positive relationships with their teachers had more robust mental and physical health in their twenties.

  In another study, high school students who reported having positive relationships with teachers did better academically and socially. In fact, these students reported that when they felt their teachers cared about them and were invested in their success, it produced a greater desire to stay in school and plan to go to college.

The data is robust. Shy students who reported good relationships with their teachers had fewer interpersonal difficulties in school and higher grades.

Becoming A Charismatic Adult

Dr. Jules Segal was a psychologist who wrote about the power of the teacher-student relationship. He described teachers as ‘charismatic adults’ or adults from whom a child can gather strength and identify. He described three characteristics teachers can have that make them serve this role for students.

The first is to accentuate the positive. Focus on what a child does well and emphasize these rather than their weaknesses. Concentrating on students’ assets rather than identifying their deficits reinforces their capabilities.

The second emphasizes effort rather than outcome, even if a child does not succeed. If kids feel their efforts are not worthwhile, they will give up. Teachers can help students see defeats as temporary bumps on the road.

Third is to keep in mind that kids and adults are wired differently. Kids’ personalities vary considerably in areas such as activity level, introversion, extraversion, ability to adapt to novel situations, and self-control. Help students feel that you appreciate their individuality.

Communicating this to a student is very powerful as it conveys that you recognize and try to tune in to their needs and take an interest in them. Research shows that kids who had suffered abuse, trauma, or even significant mental illness and flourished later in life have one thing in common – the presence of an adult the child felt cared about them.

The ability to connect in a meaningful way with a child is indeed the secret sauce for student success. In my time in the school system, I observed that it was the teacher who did not feel they had to choose between meeting a student’s social/emotional needs and meeting academic goals. Being able to work towards integrating them led to more success.

A Final Word

Reflecting on how teachers have impacted society is worthwhile as we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week. Think about it. If not for the efforts of our teachers, everyone reading this would have had very different lives. We all owe them a great debt of gratitude.

Not only achieving academic success but feeling as if their teacher truly cares about them fills students with hope and an understanding that they can derive satisfaction and nurturance beyond their homes, allowing them to trust the world.

To quote Dr. Segal, “small wonder that teachers often provide the magical bond that allows many children to turn their lives from certain defeat to glorious victory.”