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Commentary

By Liz Quirin

Keeping Teachers in Our Prayers

It’s the middle of summer and while we swelter in the heat, we’re thinking about schools opening. They seem to be starting earlier and earlier, especially if they have air conditioning and don’t have to worry about classrooms turning into ovens.

Take a step back in time, and think about your first day of school as a kindergartner. Do you remember what it was like to walk into your classroom, find your child-sized desk and look at all the unfamiliar faces of your classmates? Were you comfortable and happy to be there at the beginning of this transition in your life from child to student?
As a parent, I vividly remember taking my son, Tim, to his first day of kindergarten. He was thrilled to be there until I started to leave. He thought I would be going to kindergarten too, and when he saw this wasn’t going to happen, he decided to leave with me. So, the teacher and I devised a plan: I would stay until everyone was assembled on the floor for a morning story, and when everyone was engaged in the tale, I would disappear.

I can still see myself slinking away while Tim sat with rapt attention to the story of the day. I felt terrible as the days unfolded, and eventually he felt comfortable enough for me to say good-bye at the door, take his seat and continue his career as a student. I asked him recently if he remembered any of the trauma of those first few days, and, as so often with parents, I remember my own feelings of guilt at sneaking away while he doesn’t remember it at all.
Teachers have such tremendously difficult jobs these days, being not only purveyors of information but also psychologists and/or social workers. Children coming into school sometimes bring baggage that a teacher only discovers as the days unfold, and then he or she must deal with those problems for everyone’s benefits.

So my prayer this fall will be for teachers, that they recognize each individual student, that they teach the child more than they cover in the material. Learning styles, as teachers know, are as different as each child occupying a desk in the classroom. Some can soak up information from listening and reading lessons. Others, and I know many folks like this, must touch every single item that they see. If it has a knob, it has to be turned; if it has a button, it has to be pushed; if it has a switch, it has to be flipped.

Teachers must deal with the boisterous, the bossy (usually girls) and the shy, and address each of these individuals in a creative positive way to encourage and to spur growth. Not only should these wonderful men and women be admired, they need not just my prayers but yours as well. If we can help them in any way, we should because they are preparing the next generation who will eventually be taking care of us.