Thank a Teacher!

While driving to spend Thanksgiving with my family, I was listening to National Public Radio. The story that caught my attention was about StoryCorps, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to recording, sharing, and preserving the story of our lives. StoryCorps has made today the “National Day of Listening” and the theme this year is Thank a Teacher.

In this era of highly effective teachers and high stakes assessments, the politics of education often forgets the importance of the connection educators make with their students. The impact of teachers goes much further than remembering geometric theorems or the details of the Battle of the Bulge. Listening to the testimony of grown students to StoryCorps, one cannot diminish the importance of teachers on their student’s lives.

What educators do goes beyond the standards set by legislative bodies. Those standards are important, but what students remember goes well beyond the curriculum. Teachers are role models, advocates, and heroes. Though it should be done more often, today, Atomic Learning thanks all teachers who have helped children find their way in life.