Mama Kat’s Writers Workshop: Teacher Appreciation

It’s Thursday!  Mama Kat’s Writers Workshop Day!  Yay!

Now this?  Is a prompt I can really sink my teeth into!

2.) In honor of teacher appreciation week write a poem to a teacher you remember or currently know.

My sister, Sister-in-a-Million, the greatest little sister I ever had (also the only one I ever had but that’s beside the point), is a teacher.  A kick ass teacher.  A beloved teacher. An intercontinental, bi-coastal teacher who’s taught in NYC, Oakland, CA, Eggham, UK, and now in a small town in Massachusetts.  She specializes in reading instruction for kids with learning disabilities but also does general special ed.  She’s creative, attentive, adaptable, and dedicated in the classroom. She is well trained and continues to educate herself on how to effectively work with her students. Trust me when I say she is the teacher you want your kids to get, especially if they need extra help.

Our family has a sort of weird tradition of writing limericks so it seems only appropriate that I honor my sister with a limerick instead of a real poem that requires actual talent to write.  So here goes:

There once was a teacher named Jo
She taught kids what they most need to know
She grants them the freedom
Of independent reading
So confidently through the world they can go

(Wow, that is a really weak limerick.  Sorry, Sister-in-a-Million!)

Now here’s my public service announcement portion of teacher appreciation week: My sister got laid off, effective at the end of the school year.  It was all budget cuts, blah blah blah, but who cares?  An effective, respected, competent, dedicated teacher with a valuable skill set is not going to be teaching kids next fall.  And that?  Is not ok. Her students lose a great teacher, her family loses her income and benefits, and we, as a society, lose the benefits of having students taught by such a high quality teacher.

We shortchange our schools every year.  Teachers are under-compensated, administrators are forced to make do with dwindling budgets, and programs are cut willy-nilly when money dries up.  And we will all pay the price when generations of kids get sub-par educational experiences. It is to all of our benefits to make sure our schools are brimming with money because they finance our futures.  I hereby pledge that I will ALWAYS support property tax increases in my area because property taxes pay for teachers and teachers do a service that we all need: they TEACH.