A High School Student's Take on Appreciating Teachers During COVID-19

The purpose of this article is to serve as a reminder to my fellow students to appreciate our teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week, and for all the weeks after.

I am not the quintessential “ideal student.” I procrastinate a lot. My handwriting is not the greatest. Just recently, one of my teachers jokingly (I hope) told me that it was easier to decipher handwriting from the 19th century than mine. And much to the chagrin of my teachers, I often forget including the date, and class period, at the top right corner of my sheet of lined paper. But as I sit and reflect on these gaffes, I also realize that our teachers are some of the most pivotal people in our lives. They do not just teach us. They mentor us, they guide us, and most importantly they look out for us. This week is teacher appreciation week, and we need to remember the hard work teachers do, and the sacrifices they make for us students.
Despite everything teachers do for us, we occasionally forget that our teachers are “normal human beings.” Often, we evade out teachers at a neighborhood grocery or look in awe if we see them at a movie theater. However, we need to remember that our teachers too, have children, family, loved ones, and pets, like the rest of us. They are doing their jobs, while going through the same hardships that we all are facing currently. Just a few days back my math teacher’s dog passed away, yet the next day, she was on Microsoft Teams, checking in with us, and making sure that we were understanding lesson content. My aunt, a high school teacher, is taking care of her husband-- a cancer patient, while teaching programming languages to her students through Zoom. Our teachers, like front line workers across the nation, are selflessly doing their job, so that we, as students, can be better prepared for challenges that are yet to come.

During this crisis, lesson plans have gone awry, and teachers have had to adapt to virtual teaching platforms often at very short notice, overcoming hurdles that would have seemed insurmountable a few months ago. Across the country, teachers have responded with remarkable alacrity and resolve; they are following up with us, ensuring that we stay safe, and have offered us their thoughts and personal cell numbers to reach out to.
As a student attending a Title I school, I know that many of my peers are struggling to access digital resources. Yet, undaunted by this digital divide, my teachers are going out of their way to print out packets and are often personally delivering them to their students. Our teachers did not sign up to serve as human shields during school shootings, but they did that. Our teachers did not sign up to teach in the middle of a global pandemic, yet they are doing just that. Their strength of character, and willingness to help us under all circumstances is visible and tangible in our lives.
Despite this, we students complain about mundane things. Even now, I noticed how my peers and I were whining about extra credit opportunities. In retrospect, I can realize how petty that is. We simply cannot take our teachers for granted. Sometimes we forget the time a teacher helped us out when we faced a stressful situation, or when they stayed after school, just to make sure that we understood a concept. Sure, we can recognize our teachers for the hard work they are doing in a specific week meant for “teacher appreciation,” but let us resolve to appreciate our teachers regardless of the time. When we get back to school, let us remember how our teachers scheduled individual calls with us to make sure that we were alright. Let us remember how our teachers had to discard lesson plans that they made months in advance and become proficient in software applications that they would have rarely used otherwise.
Next time, when you are turning in your assignment, type a small thank you note for your teacher, or ask them if they are doing well. Our teachers do everything for us but ask for little in return. They could have been anything they wanted to, yet they chose to be teachers, so that they could help us achieve our dreams. Our teachers have invested more in the future of our country, than any hedge fund, or investment bank. The least we students can do… is to appreciate them.