By Jessica Conte
If you do one thing this week, let it be to thank a teacher; the teacher who spends all day with your child, the teacher you see shopping for supplies at the store, the teacher who impacted you years ago.
By the time your child graduates from Monroe Public Schools, he/she will have spent upwards of 10,000 hours being instructed by more than 30 teachers. Thirty teachers who invest in your child, care about your child, greet your child with enthusiasm every single day, and work hard to figure out what your child needs and how to help him/her thrive in school.
As part of my administrative work this year, I have had the opportunity to spend time in every single school in Monroe. What I've seen would inspire just about anyone. Our district is full of creative, hardworking, well-educated teachers who are doing everything to help children be successful in school.
I have seen teachers sitting cross-legged on the floor playing an addition card game with students, teachers engaging in powerful conversations during morning meetings, teachers helping students make personal connections to a beloved classic, teachers talking to colleagues and other professionals to figure out how to help a child, teachers dancing along to counting songs, and teachers working with students of all abilities to learn the core curriculum.
More than that, I see teachers inspiring students, teachers engaging students, teachers reaching students, and teachers changing students. Teachers devote their lives to giving our children the tools to succeed and inspiring them to do it, and Monroe is lucky to have so many teachers doing just that.
I encourage each of you to write your child's teacher and offer a heartfelt, specific, and genuine thank you for the tireless work they do each and every day. I encourage you and your child to reach out to a teacher who inspired your child somewhere on his/her educational journey GÇô or yours. A thank you from these sweet students and their families goes a long way.
Thank you to all the teachers of Monroe. Thank you for inspiring little minds every single day, for greeting them with a smile, for granting them patience, for putting forth your best effort, and for showing them you care. We are a lucky community to have such an amazing school staff working in our schools and you have inspired thousands of students and their families through your hard work and dedication to quality education.
Jessica Conte is a Nationally Board Certified teacher, has eight years of teaching experience in Monroe, and is a doctoral student in Educational Leadership at Seattle University. For questions to be answered in future Ask a Teacher columns, please email askamonroeteacher@gmail.com.
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