Dear teacher,
I have entrusted you with my dear, precious child (ok, maybe not so precious all the time, but still precious to me and to God) for seven hours a day, five days a week. For my young child, that means you will be with him more waking hours than I will. That is a scary feeling.
Who are you? What kind of personality do you have? Will you love my child in the way my child needs love? Do you have the morals that I want my child to learn from someone that spends that much time with him? Will you honestly seek out the best ways to help him comprehend the concepts that he must learn at his age? Or, do you just consider this a job and do the same things the way you have done them for ten, twenty or even thirty years? Are you a screamer or will you give my child that special hug that only a teacher can give when my child needs it? Will my child look up to you or will he be indifferent to you? Will you be the teacher that is disciplined and requires discipline in return? Children can sense the kind of love that is real, that comes from discipline. Please don’t let them do whatever they want to make them happy. Life is not that way and they need to learn that at an early age.
Do you comprehend that teaching is not a competition with other teachers? It is God’s gift to you and you are to do your very best as though you are teaching for the Lord, not for the other teachers or even the administration. Do you find yourself jealous when other teachers seem to be doing a better job than you or maybe when other teachers get a compliment? Do you talk about other teachers behind their back trying to make yourself seem more important? Shame on you. Do not be slanderers or gossipers. Do not be jealous! Try to learn from that person. Go to other teachers and ask questions. Sharing ideas is wonderful. No one person knows it all. Learn from others. See if they have a method of teaching that you might use. It is NOT a competition! It is my child’s life at stake. No matter what the grade, you influence them whether it is a positive influence or a negative one. What my child sees and learns from you could be the beginning of a wonderful life or the beginning of a life of misery.
If my child doesn’t get the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic, he will feel he is a failure when he is older. If he doesn’t learn how to interact with others in a mannerly and considerate way, he will not achieve the things in life that could be his. If he doesn’t learn to respect his teachers, he will never respect adults in life. If he doesn’t learn to abide by the rules, he may land in jail. You are molding my child’s life. This is not a job, nor a competition. It is my child’s life you are dealing with. Each day before you enter the classroom, please pray that it will be the day that makes a difference and I will be praying for you. In my eyes, you have the most important job in the whole wide world. Don’t abuse it but adore it.
Have a Blessed day!
