Perspective

This is from a letter to a special school where recently I was a long-term substitute...

"

1. It’s wonderful to converse with other educators who sincerely want to see you succeed, who share any and all resources with you, who confide in you when they encounter difficulties and who never hold themselves above you.
2. Teachers receive valuable professional development, even elective teachers.
3. Teachers are working out of a personal and professional sense of duty, rather than fear of humiliation or harassment.  They do not fear the intentions of their colleagues nor their administrators.
4. Teachers have multiple opportunities to use technology in their classrooms as it is considered a right of every teacher.  
5. Teachers do not have a to beg for a space to correct papers, to have access to supplies such as paper and dry erase markers, and do not worry that janitors or other staff will steal their belongings.
6. Teachers do not need to have 9-1-1 on speed dial, worry that their car will be damaged or stolen.
7. The school carpeting is not rife with mildew from leaky ceiling tiles, or backed-up bathrooms.
8. Every classroom has a functioning and synchronized clock, a functioning telephone, and internet access.  
9. The classrooms are have a comfortable temperature range, not 64⁰F in the winter and 94⁰F in the summer.  
10. Teachers do not need a key, or know someone with a key to use the bathroom.
11. Students come to school clean and cared for.  Students come with basic supplies every day.
12. Students understand boundaries and do not destroy or steal others’ property without expecting to be disciplined.  (They do not walk off with a school laptops under their jacket.)
13. Students do not react destructively to a teachers’ correction.  
14. Students care about their reputation.
15. Students do not have to take 2 or 3 city buses to arrive at school each day because their local school was shut down for poor achievement or bankruptcy.
16. Students are not doubled over in hunger, willing to fight you for a bag of chips.
17. Teachers can expect to find a viable contact number for reaching a student’s home.
18. Teachers can expect hard-working, competent, and caring administrators, who communicate schedules, duties, and praise on a regular basis.
19. The teachers’ union is not corrupt.
20. I do not hear a minimum of 500 curse-words a day.
21. Even in the midst of troubles (i.e. tornado, lock-downs), chaos is quelled or prevented as the students and parents can have confidence in highly competent educational staff who work together in crisis situations.  "

Hopefully those teachers that have some of these blessings are able to appreciate them after seeing it from a different perspective.