Always a Teacher

As retirement is quickly approaching (35 school days. . . but who’s counting), I’ve been reflecting on what it means to be a teacher.

Always a teacher. . . What exactly does that mean? Immediately, flashes of easy to spot teachers came to mind: you know the ones... looking like a bag lady because we are carrying/wearing so many bags or dragging a cart filled with student work? As I was driving down my street, I spotted my neighbor getting out of her car with a messenger bag strapped across her body, rolling a cart and carrying a canvas bag. Even my daughter turned to me in the car and said, “Teacher.” 

Now this dates me, but I started teaching in 1987. I remember going to annual California Reading Association conferences with the exhibit halls, row after row of vendors (heaven!) and spotting teachers wearing apple print dresses or sweaters with crayons or chalkboards appliquéd on them. Some of the booths sold teacher clothing and jewelry, too. Did I need to dress like that to be a teacher?

Remember teacher necklaces? One year I had a student whose parents imported and sold wooden and plastic “teacher jewelry” in downtown Los Angeles. For Christmas, Teacher Appreciation, and EVERY holiday, he gave me gifts of themed jewelry: apple necklaces, pencil necklaces, and matching bracelets and sometimes earring! I loved it! There was also a lady who would stop by the lunch room every so often and sell beaded earrings she had made: I had jack-o-lantern earrings, Santa earrings, US flag earrings, and my favorite: Zero the Hero earrings!! In anticipation of attending the California Mathematics Council conference in Palm Springs in the early 1990s, my teacher friend, Mandy and I decided to DIY (before DIY was a term) and make our own math jewelry. We drilled holes through wooden pattern blocks then strung ribbon on them. We wore them to the conference and thought we looked so cool and actually, many conference attendees asked if they could order some!

Today’s new teachers are so stylish, often dressed in catchy teacher slogan t-shirts and cute flowy kimonos. Or fashionable outfits from Stitch Fix, posting their outfit of the day #ootd on social media. When I first started my teacher Instagram account, I could not get over how young, perky, and beautiful all the teachers seemed. They had that perfectly curled hair in those wand curls, Color Street manicures to match the season and even cute teacher lanyards!

I looked up the Merriam Webster definition of teacher:  a person or thing that teaches something. That didn’t help, so I looked up the definition of teach:

• to cause to know something
• to cause to know how
• to impart the knowledge of
• to make known and accepted
• to conduct instruction regularly in

That seemed a bit obvious and literal. So I asked a few of my teaching besties: What does it mean to always be a teacher?

My friend, Claudia, immediately replied, “Oh you mean like when you go on vacation and you see seashells and immediately think you should pick some up for your ocean unit?” I laughed and thought about all the times my husband dutifully detoured on family road trips so we could visit yet another California mission. 20 so far! Only one more to go. My daughters have become used to this, rolling their eyes and almost screaming, “Not another mission!”

When my family visited Antelope Canyon in Arizona, not only was I in awe of the breathtaking canyons formed by erosion, but I was even more excited that I could show my class photos of these landforms during our earth science unit.

 

I’ve been known to take photos out my window while flying up to the Bay Area because we were flying over the organized green and brown fields of the Central Valley. These aerial photos would help my kids understand the scope of the Central Valley.

 

Does “always a teacher” mean you are always thinking about your students? When the pandemic first hit, I started sewing masks for frontline workers and friends. I also found some darling fabric with books printed all over them and immediately bought it so I could sew masks for my students, to encourage a love of reading!

Does “always a teacher” mean you buy books wherever you go? I love bookstores and try to find local independent bookstores wherever I travel. Even though I browse with the intent of buying myself a new novel, more often than not, I end up loading up my suitcase with children’s books! I especially love books about the local area. I’ve discovered that National Park gift shops have great picture books, too!

Or does “always a teacher” mean you can’t help it when you see kids screaming and running in the grocery store and you yell, “Walk!” and they look back at you with wide eyes, as you give them the teacher stare?

I had a parent come to me after school one day and say, “Show me your look!”
“What?” I asked, confused.
Her son had told her I never yelled, but I had a really scary look. LOL! I’ve perfected the raised one eyebrow stare down. My “teacher look” even came across while wearing a mask during Covid. Or so I was told!

In 2024, the NEA reported that 55% of educators were considering leaving the profession earlier than planned. Approximately 50% of new teachers leave within their first five years.  So what does it mean: “always a teacher”? What makes teachers stay in the teaching profession?

What makes a good teacher? Or what lies in the heart of a great teacher? What makes us stay? What makes us always a teacher? We don’t just teach content—we teach children. We make connections to our students. It doesn’t matter what we teach unless students know that we care, that we value their interests and backgrounds.

A few years ago, I read a book to my class called Laila’s Lunchbox, a story about a young girl who was so excited because it was the first year she could participate in fasting during Ramadan. However, she was nervous about what her friends and teacher would say when she didn’t eat lunch. Her mother wrote a note to the teacher, explaining but Laila was too embarrassed to give it to her. So all of her friends start offering her food, assuming she forgot her lunch. Eventually, she ends up in the school library and she explains the mix-up to the librarian. The librarian finds a book about Ramadan and writes a note to give to Laila’s teacher. The teacher was so interested and asked Laila to share with the class about Ramadan, the 9th month of the Islamic calendar and one of the holiest months for Muslims. I did not know anything about this holiday before. One of my parents sent me an email that her daughter, also named Layla, came home beaming, as she had told her all about the book. That mom cried because never in all the years she was in school, was Ramadan even mentioned or acknowledged. She thanked me for seeing her daughter.

My daughter recently asked me why I spend so many hours lesson planning when I’ve been teaching the same grade (fourth) for 28 years. I tried to explain that each class is different and I want to try new ways of teaching concepts that may reach more students or introduce new books or a new project. Or give different perspectives.

I still love attending educational conferences and workshops; learning about the latest research and meeting with other like-minded, enthusiastic educators. I always look forward to having time each summer to delve into professional books. You can catch up on some of the book studies HERE. 

Always a teacher? Yes! We are always learning, always thinking, always collaborating, always keeping our students’ best interests at heart. As Rita Pierson says, “Every child deserves a champion—an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.”

This does not stop in the classroom, but it is part of our very being. I am always a teacher.

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