This month the public has focused on teacher appreciation, with last week being National Teacher Appreciation Week. It was a week in which we saw social media blow up with pictures of positive teacher moments, thank-you messages to the teachers, and pictures of doughnuts in staff breakrooms.
As a teacher for the last eight years, I have seen several different ways teachers are appreciated during National Teacher Appreciation Week and I always appreciate a good doughnut, a gift card to Starbucks or a new coffee cup, but these aren't really "teacher appreciation."
Teaching is one of four professions that require constant certification, ongoing professional development, strongly encourage postgraduate education, and are regulated by state and federal laws that are always changing but are mandated--yet teachers are treated and looked upon differently than lawyers, doctors, and nurses.
Maybe this is because teachers are state employees and not in private-sector positions, although this is changing rapidly throughout America. Perhaps it is because most people regard teachers as caretakers and not professionals who understand the learning process. It could be that the teaching profession is stuck in the past because generations have gone through our educational systems and it worked for them, so they see no need or value in innovation in education. These are just some of the reasons people might look at teaching differently.
So what does real teacher appreciation look like? What solutions do I have to make teachers appreciated every day? Let's start with valuing teachers' hard work in college and postgraduate education.
We need to make teaching a profession that is valued with appropriate salaries and bonuses. Currently, teachers are stuck in a system that values years of experience over production. We need to appreciate teachers in the way we incentivize their growth and provide teacher bonuses based on performance and positive evaluations instead of the traditional model of years served. In Arkansas public schools, we use the years-of-service model to pay our teachers; we should re-evaluate this model. None of the other three professions I mentioned earlier use this model. Shouldn't we be considering ways to give bonuses to the young professionals who are going above and beyond in their profession?
Another important aspect of any professional working environment is making sure we are giving our teachers the opportunity to be teacher leaders. What other profession requires you to quit what you are passionate about because the only way to earn more money is to take an administration position? I haven't heard of many doctors giving up their practice to join the hospital administration. I did see a step in the right direction recently when the Arkansas Department of Education released its new licensure designations. Essentially, the department now can put a stamp on our certifications designating a leader. This is an important first step toward valuing our teachers; the next step would be supporting these amazing teacher leaders with professional stipends. This would be a great way to keep our best teachers in the classroom, and would let these talented teachers feel appreciated for their natural teaching abilities.
The last way we could show our appreciation is by valuing their innovation and listening to their voices. As someone who worked in administration for several years, it is hard for us to know what the class setting is like, and we often forget what teaching and learning are like for students and teachers. We should be letting the teachers run our schools. They should be making needed curriculum changes. We should be gathering their opinions and thoughts on what is working and what is not working.
Teachers should have time during their work day to collaborate with each other to help build amazing, innovative schools. Again, one finds other professions give plenty of time for collaboration, where ideas are born and innovation happens. Instead, our schools in Arkansas are hesitant to make the changes necessary to provide this for our teachers on a daily basis. I do know there are exceptions, and these exceptions have a culture of learning, and teacher morale is at an all-time high. This should be the rule, not the exception.
I understand that we all have different interpretations of appreciation. My hope is that school districts in Arkansas can begin to express the value they have for their teachers throughout the year by providing a living wage to teachers, by helping teachers grow daily, and by listening and appreciating the voices and knowledge of our teachers.
If we can begin to value the really great teachers and support their efforts financially, emotionally, and professionally, I think we will begin to see more people choose to teach as a lifelong profession.
If we can do this, we will have to buy a lot more doughnuts for the staff breakroom, and that would be a good thing for Arkansas.
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John Unger of Siloam Springs is the Decatur Middle School Alternative Learning director/teacher for grades 5-8. He has an education specialist degree from Arkansas State University and a master's in education from LSU-Shreveport.
Editorial on 05/23/2019