Be kind to each other

It's taken me a few days to post this...

I have a favour to ask....This is a long one!

Could everyone go out of their way this week to thank their child's teacher/child carer etc for something positive they have done, taught, said, ANYTHING at all! This post may make me sound terrible, but really I'm just wondering if, as a teacher, it's all worth it.

As I write this I am sitting in a hotel room over the long weekend. My young family are all downstairs enjoying our time away while I'm busily preparing mid year reports and new activities for my beautiful class. We spent the day shopping for my classroom where I purchased numerous items for my other 'kids' to ensure their learning and classroom space is inviting and fun. My own family spend a few hours each weekend with me in my classroom helping get ready for the upcoming week. My children sometimes spend up to 10 hours a day and part of every school holidays at school. I've missed my sons first day of school, will miss my daughters, have had to send them to school and daycare sick when there are no relief teachers available to take my class and made them miss out on many social outings as work needs to be done..

Tensions between my husband I and are at an all time high as all of my spare time is spent on 'school' work. This year my wonderful group of junior primary children have brought with them an extremely high needs group of parents. They are extremely thankless and very caught up in the idea that everything their children didn't learn last year is all my fault. I am bombarded daily with emails and written notes asking me to teach kids how to go to the toilet, get along with their friends, not lose their belongings, bring home a new homework folder as they have 'misplaced' theirs for the 3rd time this year... The list goes on. The amount of testing, paperwork and data that needs to be completed and collected these days is extraordinary and all consuming.

As I head in to my 10th year of teaching I'm feeling done. I love each and every child I get into my class each year but the workload, lack of respect (at times) and time spent away from my own family is becoming more disheartening as the weeks go on. I chose this profession to make a difference to children and I hope that I do. The (sometimes) daily feelings of anxiety and panic at the thought of opening an email or seeing which parent is waiting at my door is taking its toll on my family..

I guess my reasoning behind writing this message is a vent. Not once all year (as we head in to our 14th week of learning) have any of the parents of my class said anything positive about their child's learning, classroom or teacher. The kids are all enjoying learning and making such amazing progress, but for some reason this doesn't seem enough for a lot of their parents, and teachers (me) are bearing the brunt of this. I'm wondering if all the sacrifices my family keep making for my career are worth it... Even something simple as 'the classroom looks great today' or 'thanks for making 'x' happy to come to school' would be amazing! A smile or happy good morning to your child's teacher can make the world of difference. Just to know that what teachers do is appreciated and the time that they dedicate to your child, and not with their own families, is justified...