Appreciating teachers (for a change)
This is Teacher Appreciation Week (so declared by theNational Education Association), a fine moment to say something nice to or about teachers, who have been put through the ringer in recent years.Why has teacher morale been plummeting, as evidenced in poll after poll? You can, in large part, thank reformers who have moved to end or reduce teacher tenure, make teacher evaluation partly dependent on student standardized test scores, tell teachers what and how to teach, etc., etc.
So here, in the spirit of the week, are some nice — and occasionally amusing — thoughts about teachers.
We teachers are rather good at magic, you know.— Minerva McGonagall , as written by J.K. Rowling (born 1965) in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”The self taught man seldom knows anything accurately, and he does not know a tenth as much as he could have known if he had worked under teachers.— Mark Twain (1835-1910)Teachers are the only professionals who have to respond to bells e