In Case You Were Wondering What Educators Do On National Teacher Day…

It’s National Teacher Day. So, on this day, teachers will be teaching good nutrition.

And first aid.

And how to say, “Excuse me.”

We’ll diversify our curriculum and instruction to meet the personal and individual needs of all our students including the blind, the hearing impaired, the emotionally disturbed, the physically challenged, the cognitively disabled, the gifted and talented and the kids who don’t fit neatly into any of those categories but just need us to give them a hug and a little extra encouragement; we’ll make sure they’ve had their immunizations, make sure they understand disease control and how to cough into their sleeves and how to resist drugs, alcohol and tobacco; we’ll give career counseling, pregnancy counseling, mental health counseling and counseling to juvenile offenders; we’ll talk with parents and grandparents and foster parents about what they can do at home to help their happy children and their troubled children and we’ll make take-home packets for sick children; we’ll provide computer instruction, sex education, train them how to handle a bully and we’ll step in and stop fights, taunting and teasing; we’ll instill an understanding of civil rights and the political process and foster racial and social tolerance and an appreciation of our cultural diversity; we’ll teach the principles of free enterprise and good telephone manners, report child abuse, design authentic experiences to develop personal responsibility and we’ll check for head lice; we’ll practice bicycle safety, provide bilingual education to English Language Learners, teach metrics, how to be a wise consumer, exercise, weight control and how to drive a car; we’ll teach the impact of ancient cultures on us today and give kids the skills to predict the consequences of decisions they make this afternoon on the future; we’ll teach them to revere our environment, how to manage their money, how to access information, how to fix a car, how to mix blue and yellow to make green, how to make wise choices, how to construct a persuasive argument, how to balance a checkbook; how to say, “I’m sorry”; we’ll teach loyalty to the ideals of democracy and how to organize their homework, we’ll build patriotism, good oral hygiene, instill a sense of respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every blessed human being on the planet; nurture curiosity, a questioning nature, build self-esteem through self-respect,

and then

we’ll teach Reading. Writing. And Arithmetic.

Tomorrow will not be National Teacher Day. But we’ll do this all tomorrow,  and every day.

Happy National Teacher Day.