"Is the Great American Teacher Dead?"

I found this article to be very interesting.  As I was reading it, my mind shifted from a student to a parent whose children have had a select few really great teachers.  

When my oldest started school, he was so blessed to have teachers who loved their jobs.  They loved their students and were very enthusiastic about teaching.  As a parent, I volunteered in the classroom weekly, and could see first hand the teaching and could feel the joy from the students.  If my children stayed at this school, I would have shouted from the rooftops that the great American teacher is alive and well! 

When my oldest was in third grade, our family moved.  It was here in this new town and a new school system that my heart broke as my eyes were opened to a different kind of teaching.  My second and third sons also started school during this time.  The atmosphere of the school was depressing.  No teacher smiled, no parents were allowed in the building, very little communication came home, a bombardment of homework (literally 1-1.5 hours in Kindergarten).  There was no "zest" for teaching, no positive student-teacher relationship. My third son cried for months in Kindergarten.   No reassurance or comfort from the teacher.  The school was a dreadful, depressing and discouraging place. To this day, my biggest regret is not pulling them out to homeschool.  If this was my only experience to answer the question, I would shout from the rooftops that the great American teacher is indeed dead!

Fast forward to 5 years later, another move and my fourth child entering school.  Though this school does not match our first experience and is much better than the second experience, it is a mix of the two, favoring more of the first.  We live in a small town with only two schools; K-8 and high school.  As a substitute teacher, I observe the teachers who love their jobs and love their students.  But I also can observe the teachers who are burned out, go through the motions of their job and, lack interest in the individual student. 

Our children are precious and we as parents trust teachers to take care of them at school.  One of the paragraphs that stood out to me the most said, "An often overlooked component of excellent teaching is that of the affective realm. Brain expert, Medina, and Invitational Education experts Purkey and Novak talk extensively on this. The acquisition of knowledge is profoundly impacted by the emotional environment in which it takes place. A positive teacher-student relationship and the enhancement of a positive student self-concept are extremely important. People do not learn or perform well if they do not feel emotionally safe. The brain remembers the emotional components of an experience better than any other aspect.

As a parent, I wish that every teacher could read this article.  I felt inspired to want to be a "great" American substitute teacher.  Maybe if only for a day, I can make a difference in a student's life.

What have been experiences your children have had with teachers that do not "take care of the troops"?  What have you done to encourage your children to keep pressing forward in that type of learning environment?