Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Six Things (Almost) Every Teacher Would Love for Teacher Appreciation Week

I've known a lot of teachers in my life and they vary wildly in age, build, personality, interests, subject matter, and tolerance of stupidity. One thing that is very common among them, though, is their nurturing nature. The vast majority of teachers are givers, not takers. They don't often ask for much, get little in return for their efforts, but they thrive in an atmosphere of giving.

Teacher Appreciation Week should be the one time we get to ask for stuff, right?

Teacher Appreciation Week 2015 has already come and gone. We have a wonderful PTO made up of Pinterest-addicted moms who supplied us with highlighters ("You're the highlight of this school"), Fantas ("You're FANTA-stic"), lunch on Tuesday, and other goodies. The office staff brought us doughnuts on Monday, and the athletic director fed us wings and nachos on Friday. All in all, it was a pretty awesome week.

That being said, there are just a few things that most all teachers would love to have for Teacher Appreciation Week that we just probably won't get. But if you have connections to a higher power, here's a little wish list I've thrown together for Teachers Appreciation Week 2016!

1. The opportunity to go pee whenever we feel the need. I don't think non-teachers can truly appreciate how precious a bathroom break is. Even the stay-at-home mom crowd gets to go pee, albeit with the door open and an audience consisting of a toddler, a baby in a wrap, and the dog.

MRW I finally get to go pee after a loooong morning holding it in.
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2. A day free from repeating ourselves. I don't mean repeating lesson plans during multiple class periods. That's a given... it comes with the territory, right? I mean repeating "get out a sheet of notebook paper" or "turn to page 72" or "Scantron machines do not read red ink" or "is your name at the top?" or "number your paper one through twenty." A day where we only need to say instructions once.

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3. Two fifteen-minute breaks. Did you guys know this is a real thing? There are real, adult jobs out there where you get two fifteen-minute breaks during your eight hour shift? What is this shit?

(Oh, and to all of the non-teachers who are saying, "What about your prep period/recess time/passing periods? That's a break!" my little boy has something to say to you.)

Learning his rude hand gestures from a very young age.
4. Lunch time. My husband, who I love and adore because he is an amazing man and a wonderful father, gets to sit down for lunch every day for an hour. He has a lunch hour that usually involves him going out for lunch with some colleagues where they proceed to eat lunch in peace and not work. I mean seriously... what do you do just sitting there eating lunch in peace for a whole hour? I just keep thinking about how much work I could get done in that time...

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5. One day where all other businesses have hours that differ from school hours. It is impossible to run errands as a teacher. Everyone has the same hours you do! You can't make it to a post office, an insurance company, or a bank unless you leave work on time. And really, who gets to do that? I have to work extra just to get to leave on time.

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6. Blue jeans and comfy shoes. This varies wildly by location, but I would love it if we got to wear blue jeans and shoes with laces. We currently have that luxury every other Friday (pay day) and I swear to you the morale throughout the entire building gets a significant boost by just this little change in dress code. If I feel really ballsy next year, I might even suggest we get to wear jeans and tennis shoes for a whole week.

MRW I wake up and realize it is, indeed, Pay Day (a.k.a. Blue Jeans) Friday.
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So let's have it. What's on your Teacher Appreciation Week wishlist for 2016? It's never too early to start thinking of these things. (If anything these happy thoughts will help push you through until the end of the school year!)