Teachers

Teachers come and go but every so often one comes along that you'll always remember. One who makes learning an adventure... and who can still remember what it's like to be young and growing up... The kind who can make you want to be the very best you can be... Someone you can really talk to, who really cares what happens to you... That person is YOU!

Author Unknown

First Grade Teacher

I bet you've tied a million shoes and dried a million tears and given out a million hugs as a teacher through the years. In my child's life, the role that you've played has been a priceless part and you must know the special place you hold in my child's heart.

Author Unknown

The Molders of Their Dreams
Clark Molenhoff

You are molders of their dreams. The gods who crush their young beliefs of right or wrong. You are the spark, that sets aflame the poet's hand or lights the flame in some great young singer's song. You are the gods of young - the very young. You are the guardian of a million dreams. Your smile or frown can heal or pierce a heart. Yours are one hundred lives - one thousand lives. Yours is the pride of loving them, the sorrow too. Your patient work, your touch, make you the God of hope That fills their souls with dreams, and makes those dreams come true.

WHY GOD CREATED TEACHERS.

When God created teachers,
He gave us special friends
To help us understand His world
And truly comprehend
The beauty and the wonder
Of everything we see,
And become a better person
With each discovery.

When God created teachers,
He gave us special guides
To show us ways in which to grow
So we can all decide
How to live and how to do
What's right instead of wrong,
To lead us so that we can lead
And learn how to be strong.

Why God created teachers,
In His wisdom and His grace,
Was to help us learn to make our world
A better, wiser place.

~Author Unknown~

I Didn't Know

I didn't know that years of school and a college degree would be of little 
consolation when facing a room full of bright little eyes on the 
first day of school. I thought I was ready...

I didn't know that five minutes can seem like five hours when there is 
idle time and an eight hour school day far too short for a 
well-planned day of teaching.

I didn't know that teaching children was only a fraction of my job. 
No one tells you about the conferences and phone calls, faculty meetings and committees, paperwork and paperwork...

I didn't know that it took so long to cut out letters, draw and color pictures, 
laminate-all for those bulletin boards that were always "just there"...

I didn't know that I would become such a scavenger, and that teaching
 materials would feel like pure gold in my hands... 

I didn't know that an administration and co-workers that support 
and help you could make such a difference...

I didn't know that there would be children that I loved and cared for 
and stayed up late worrying about, who, one day,
would simply not show up. 
And that I would never see them again...

I didn't know that I can't always dry little tears and mend broken hearts.
I thought I could always make a difference...

I didn't know that the sound of children's laughter could drown 
out the sound of all the world's sadness...

I didn't know that children could feel so profoundly.
A broken heart knows no age.

I didn't know that a single "yes ma'am" from a disrespectful child 
or a note in my desk that says "You're the best!" could make me feel like 
I'm on top of a mountain and forget the valleys I forged to get there...

I never knew that after one year of teaching I would feel so much 
wiser, more tired, sadder and happier, all at once.
And that I would no longer call teaching my job,
but my privilege.

Author Unknown

We Left You At The Door

by James Singleton

We took you down to school today.
You're just beginning now;
Although this year you're five years old,
You seem so young somehow!
We didn't take you all the way,
For we'd been told before,
"Don't go into his room with him,
Just leave him at the door."
Up to this time we've always gone
Together everywhere,
And we have had a lot of fun
While traveling here and there;
But we well knew before it came, 
We're parted more and more.
So many times we will stand outside
And leave you at the door. 
You're growing up so very fast
It's hard to keep in step;
The fact of changing years is hard
For parents to accept.
You'll have to walk your path alone
No matter what's in store;
We'll bring you up to life's classroom,
Then leave you at the door.
While you were ours these tender years,
We treasured every day,
Full knowing that the time would come, 
When you would go your way;
And though this love will still remain,
Within our heart's deep care,
Our eyes will sting to see you go
And leave us at the door!

Little Teddy Stoddard

derived from "Three Letters From Teddy"
by Elizabeth Silance Ballard

There is a story many years ago of an elementary teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn't play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big F at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last.

However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's.

His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume.

But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist.

Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to."

After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy.

As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer. The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.

The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he'd met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

WHAT IS A TEACHER?  

A teacher is someone  who sees each child as a unique person and encourages individual talents and strengths.   A teacher looks beyond  each child's face and sees inside their souls.   A teacher is someone  with a special touch and a ready smile, who takes the time to listen to both sides and always tries to be fair.   A teacher has a caring heart that respects and understands.   A teacher is someone who can look past disruption and rebellion, and recognize hurt and pain. A teacher teaches the entire child, and helps to build confidence and raise self-esteem.   A teacher makes a difference in each child's life, and affects each family and the future of us all.  

by Barbara Cage

Poem to go with a teacher gift

For teaching children lessons,
 to help them as they grow,
Let this gift remind you,
You're the best teacher we know!

Poem to go with a teacher gift

I chose this special present because I wanted you to know,
That I'm grateful for your hard work in helping me to grow.
For your constant understanding and for always being there,
To tell me I can do it and to show me that you care!

One Hundred Years from now 
One Hundred Years from now 
It will not matter 
what kind of car I drove, 
What kind of house I lived in, 
how much money was in my bank account 
nor what my clothes looked like. 
But the world may be a better place because 
I was important in the life of a child.

Teacher's Prayer 
Lord, Please help me, 
To strengthen their voices, 
bodies and minds, 
To express their feelings and 
control them sometimes, 
To explore what's near 
and venture afar, 
But most important to love 
who they are. 

WHOSE CHILD IS THIS?.

"Whose child is this?" I asked one day
Seeing a little one out at play
"Mine", said the parent with a tender smile
"Mine to keep a little while
To bathe his hands and comb his hair
To tell him what he is to wear
To prepare him that he may always be good
And each day do the things he should"

"Whose child is this?" I asked again
As the door opened and someone came in
"Mine", said the teacher with the same tender smile
"Mine, to keep just for a little while
To teach him how to be gentle and kind
To train and direct his dear little mind
To help him live by every rule
And get the best he can from school"

"Whose child is this?" I ask once more
Just as the little one entered the door
"Ours" said the parent and the teacher as they smiled
And each took the hand of the little child
"Ours to love and train together
Ours this blessed task forever."