Day 19 (of 2026/27) #worldTeacherDay
There’s lots of saying about teachers…
From the negative: ‘those who can, do… those who can’t, teach…
To the pensive: ‘how much do you make?’ – I make a difference…
To the positive: ‘Teachers plant seeds of possibility, then get to watch them grow.’
To the hopeful: “Teachers plant trees under whose shade they may never sit.”
To the aspirational: “A teacher can change a life with a single lesson.”
To the enduring: “Teachers don’t just teach lessons. They leave fingerprints on futures.”
To the powerful: “Teaching is the profession that creates every other profession.”
To the quietly profound: “A good teacher sees the person a student is becoming, not just the student sitting in front of them.”
To the optimistic: “Every teacher has the chance to make tomorrow a little better than today.”
To the slightly Landy-ish: “Teachers get to spend their days helping people become more than they thought they could be.”
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It’s also a career that a lot of people imagine they can do because they spent time in classrooms… but the flip side of the 1:30 (pick your class size…) is trickier than many wish…
As many ‘emergency qualified adults’ can attest to…
Just because you were a minister…
Or in the military…
Or in the trades (albeit helpful to have red seal trades with a teaching degree)…
Doesn’t mean that you’ll find success in the classroom..
.
But while many wish it was ‘just that easy’
Teaching is an art, not a science…
There is no one script…
No one way to teach reading…
Or math…
It takes a toolbox of skills and strategies to share…
There’s a reason why people can spend 4-10+ years of schooling to become professional
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And then there’s the ‘extras’…
The parts of the job that make it not fit a ‘normal day’
9-3ish with kids
Then evening events
And commitments to planning and assessing and communicating
(It’s in the contract that it’s known those will not fit into a ‘defined hours of a day’)
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It’s why we like to honour our teachers when we can.
Who over think what they did each day
And didn’t get to
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Sigh at the unsolicited feedback from others
Ponder at good wonders of what could be different(iated)
And plan what might be next.
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Happy World Teachers Day
Teaching is one of the few professions where your greatest successes eventually walk out the door without you.
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