School is back in session and things are just starting to fall into a routine at my house. My eight-year-old is quite pleased with her new teacher, and I've got to say I am, too. It's amazing what a difference a good teacher can make in the life of a child.
I remember a horrible teacher I had in math back in Grade 5. She used to roll her eyes at me when I couldn't figure out the answers or rub her forehead in frustration and let out deep, forceful sighs when I couldn't show my work but had the right answer somehow.
To this day, I hold some resentment toward that woman who put me in the "slow" math class but never tried to help me succeed. I even heard her talking about me in the hall once, telling another teacher she had given up on me.
I struggled in math for years after that and still feel a little skeptical of my mathematical abilities. I suppose I can't blame it all on her, but she definitely helped shape my attitude toward math and created that little voice inside me that says 'you can't do this.'
On the other hand, I had an amazing language arts teacher in Grade 2. It was when she challenged us to create a story based on her T-shirt that I got my first taste of literary freedom and my first pile of praise. I decided then that I would be a reporter.
More fabulous language arts teachers would follow in the years to come for me. They challenged me, pushed me, praised me, gently corrected me and ultimately supported me in my goal of becoming a reporter.
I have to give them credit for seeing something in me worth cultivating, and I remember many of them fondly for the encouraging chats they took the time to have with me.
Teachers help shape us as human beings.
With this in mind, I broach the subject of the teachers' job action that is currently going on. It hasn't affected my child yet, and I hope it won't, but I fear a full-blown strike is coming when I see a government that isn't willing to give teachers even 10 cents more an hour for their efforts.
Teachers are more than frustrated. They are demanding that they have more control of their classrooms and more pay for the remarkable work they do, but no one who can do anything about it seems to care.
I care. I want teachers to make more money. I want them to feel more valued and continue coming to school each day filled with optimism and hope and able to invest themselves in my child, to help her grow and become the amazing adult I know she will be.
If a strike comes, I will support the teachers. That being said, I don't know a strike will change things much. The government could just drag their feet and then mandate them back to work, like we saw with the postal carriers, but it's the principle of it for me. It would show teachers that I want the same things they want - the best learning environment for my child.
