School Family

I like how Teacher Appreciation Week and Mother’s Day are connected this year on the calendar.  For me, the son of a long-time grade school teacher, they always have been connected, even when the calendar says differently.  And now I’m married to a teacher, too, cementing the connection further.

It’s always been easy for me to make the connection between a good teacher and a good mom. Both bring passion and compassion and a hard-to-define, hard-to-find combination of techincal know-how (long division and making a birthday cake) and soft skills (what’s needed to today, a pat on the back or a kick in the rear-end?) to their charges.  And both change the world every day.

I don’t recall Teacher Appreciation Week being so formal when I was a kid, though I do remember my mom having at least one of every type of apple known to man.  Ceramic apples. Real apples. Apple-shaped notecards. Apple ashtrays….  (Sidenote: I feel like Bubba from Forrest Gump – barbecue shrimp, fried shrimp, cajun shrimp…).  That memory does bring me to a quick appreciation tip — No Apples!  Just trust me.

Thought I’d use this blog space to say thanks and Happy Mother’s Day to the two special moms and teachers in my life.  Gracias Ellen and Louise!

If you’re looking to thank a teacher, thought I’d also provide a couple of links that making doing so online pretty easy.  There are several sites now that connect donors with teachers.  Instead of apple ashtrays (those are a bit politically incorrect nowadays anyway…), you can provide exactly what a teacher has asked for for her or his classroom.  Pretty cool.  Some choices:

Donor’s Choose

Adopt-a-Classroom

I Love Schools

Here’s a good way to get in the right mindset for back-to-school: remember (and thank!) all those great teachers who’ve inspired you. I’ve been following the neat TeachersCount site for a while to do just that.

Since we’re reminiscing—OK, I suppose I’m reminiscing—I hope my kids wind up with great teachers like Ms. Carroll (high school history), Mr. Gazzola (high school English), Mr. Maher (5th grade) and—of course—my mom, who taught 1st grade for a couple of decades, when she wasn’t raising four of her own young ones. We read so much about teachers who don’t cut it, but tens of thousands of teachers do. Hope they’re enjoying these last days of summer, too.