May is Teacher Appreciation Month. Within this month, it also has a Teacher Appreciation Day and Week. During this time, many brands take the time to celebrate educators. While recognition is always welcome, we fundamentally believe that recognizing teachers should never be limited to just one day, one week, or even one month. Being an educator, especially today, is one of the most challenging and thankless professions. As a result, we’re seeing more and more educators leave the profession. Together, we must find opportunities to appreciate, celebrate, and find meaningful ways to make their day throughout the year.
Elana Leoni, CEO of LCG, spent eight years at Edutopia, whose founder is George Lucas. One of the things he would say over and over again was that, "Education is the single most important job of the human race" and that "The most powerful element in education is the teacher. Nothing will ever compete with that." In that spirit, our Teacher Appreciation episode of All Things Marketing and Education features three educators whom we're privileged to work alongside in an education community we’re helping build called Nourished Teachers: Rodney Crouse, Christine Ruder, and Tracy Selock. They share encouragement, wisdom, support, and perhaps most importantly, what it's like to be a classroom teacher 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Educators Teach Through A Lens Of Love
When you ask an educator why they teach, they always have a powerful story that comes to mind. The educators we talked to reflected on some of their stories:
Rodney remembers a story of a student whom he helped find his voice to make lasting change in his community.
Tracy recalls setting a high bar for a struggling student who later thanked her for not giving up on him.
Christine speaks about a child from disadvantaged circumstances whose academic progress she followed through high school and ultimately college graduation.
All three teachers emphasize how these and so many other stories are parts of the daily mosaic of students whose lives they touch.
There's No Typical Day Of Teaching
Tracy, Christine, and Rodney describe their typical day with a dizzying list of tasks, responsibilities, and improvisations that would steamroll most of us. Tracy mentions a pie chart that a colleague made for fun, with only one-sixteenth dedicated to actual instruction. She compares teaching to a stage production:
"What people don't realize is teaching is not the production on the stage. That's my content delivery. What most people don’t see is all of the scriptwriting, costume designs, set design, resource gathering, phone calls, auditioning – that's the stuff that happens outside the school day."
Some of that work includes managing the unpredictability of a school day, everything from children's anxiety about family crises to classroom IT disasters to a broken snap on a pair of pants. All three teachers agree that the pandemic increased the expectations on their time while decreasing their resources. As for actually delivering content, Rodney shares that, in addition to their own lessons, they're also expected to be aware of the required skills and knowledge that kids may not have learned in previous years. Christine observes:
"Anybody that thinks that, 'Oh, teachers, they teach from eight to three,' well, that's baloney. It doesn’t even count stuff you bring home, prepping for class for the next week."
In the interest of avoiding burnout, Tracy observes:
"We have a responsibility as more seasoned teachers to change the narrative for the younger teachers coming in and get people to understand that you can only do what you can do, and you should set and then respect boundaries for yourself."
Appreciation Means Support, Not Empty Gestures
While Christine, Tracy, and Rodney are grateful for appreciation, they're aware of what feels genuine versus an afterthought. Christine recalls:
"Normally on the last day of our teacher contract, they give us a breakfast and do a little end-of-the-year wrap-up ceremony. Because of COVID, they had a drive-through. It wasn't worth the gas in my car to go and get a little baggie with two Graham crackers, a marshmallow, and a candy bar so we could make our own S'mores. I kept thinking we saved all this money on a breakfast that didn't happen, and we got a S'more. You know, I'd just like it to be a little more thoughtful, more meaningful."
Tracy notes that, with so much in the education world beyond individual educators' control, one of the most supportive things is asking what they need:
"Ask us what we want, and we will tell you that it's not a mug with an apple on it. We're good on the apple mugs, you know? And it has nothing to do with being ungrateful. If you want to do something, ask us what it is."
Rodney maintains that small gestures of appreciation, as long as they're heartfelt, still go a long way:
"I have Post-It notes from six and seven years ago that were left on my computer that were just sweet messages. If you want someone to know they're appreciated, just tell them. Don't take it for granted. Let them know."
Advocate and Care For Teachers
Tracy believes that the best source of teacher appreciation is other teachers:
"It's so easy to go into our classrooms and close our door and just do our job and go home. And I think it's really, really important that we hear and appreciate one another. An admin told me once that the teacher underground network is more powerful than any part of a school. And I think that that's absolutely true. As a unit, we're incredibly powerful. And so just remember to love on one another."
Christine says that everyone should be advocating for teachers:
"Don't just say, 'Oh my gosh, teachers, they're so amazing. When the pandemic started, teachers should be paid a million dollars.' I'm not saying that we should be paid a million dollars, but at least something commensurate with all the advanced degrees that we do have."
Here's the full transcript of this podcast episode.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Nourished Teachers Community, a Facebook group co-created by teachers (including our podcast guests) focused on nourishing the minds, bodies, and spirits of K-12 classroom teachers in the U.S. Please fill out this application if you are a current K-12 U.S. educator and would like to join.
"What It's Really Like to Teach in a Pandemic: A Conversation With Tracy Selock", Tracy's previous visit to the All Things Marketing and Education podcast
"3 Things Brands Should NEVER Do for Teacher Appreciation Week", Lily Jones' 4/15/21 blog for LCG underlining a few complaints we heard from Rodney, Christine, and Tracy
"Ways to Show Appreciation to Teachers Year-Round", Elana's 5/2/21 blog for LCG offering lots of suggestions for loving on teachers
"Last-Minute Gift Ideas for Educators", Elana's 12/9/20 blog for LCG about the logistics of gifting for your favorite educators
#RAKtivist, an easy path to The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, a nonprofit whose work Rodney proudly follows
Elana Leoni, Host
Elana Leoni has dedicated the majority of her career to improving K-12 education. Prior to founding LCG, she spent eight years leading the marketing and community strategy for the George Lucas Educational Foundation where she grew Edutopia’s social media presence exponentially to reach over 20 million education change-makers every month.
Christine Ruder, Guest
Christine teaches 2nd grade in mid-Missouri, and also taught 1st, 3rd, and 4th grades. She has been at her school for 24 years. She loves using technology with her students; she has been actively involved in edcamps since the beginning and is one of the founders of EdcampMagic. She loves connecting with other teachers and sharing ideas.
Rodney Crouse, Guest
Rodney has been in public education for 18 years and has taught every grade from kindergarten to 5th except for grade 3. Rodney is currently teaching grade 4, partnering with a charter school to develop science for their grade 5 students, writing curriculum for the district, and is on a path towards administration certification.
Tracy Selock, Guest
A classroom teacher with 26 years of experience, Tracy Selock has spent 21 of those years educating a fifth/sixth-grade class of gifted and talented students at Kankakee School District 111. She earned her teaching degree at Illinois State University in 1994. She also holds two master's degrees, the first in teaching and learning from the University of St. Francis, and the second in instructional technology from Nova Southeastern University. She's served as an adjunct professor, teaching in the master's program at Olivet Nazarene University for 12 years. She recently joined the EdMod team at Meta, focusing on teacher wellness. Tracy has been married for 25 years, has two sons, and lives on her family farm where she spends as much time as possible working with her dad.
About All Things Marketing and Education
What if marketing was judged solely by the level of value it brings to its audience? Welcome to All Things Marketing and Education, a podcast that lives at the intersection of marketing and you guessed it, education. Each week, Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, highlights innovative social media marketing, community-building, and content marketing strategies that can significantly increase brand awareness, engagement, and revenue.
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