Youth Radio’s Alix Black has a special appreciation for teachers. She comes from a family with several generations of educators, including her Mom. On this Mother’s day, she sent us these thoughts.
My mom often jokes that going out in public makes her feel like a rock star. She literally can't go anywhere in our neighborhood without running into a current or former student. That's because for the last ten years, she's been teaching at Morningside Elementary School in Atlanta. Her first grade students adore her. She was even “Walmart Teacher of the Year” in 2006.
When I was little, I was jealous of my mom's celebrity status. Just what made her so cool, anyhow? And, I must admit, I was even more jealous of how much she loved the kids she taught. It was almost as if they were her own. She fawned over handmade birthday cards from her first graders when I wanted to show off my newfound ability to do long division. As I got a little older, I learned to appreciate what a gift it was to have such an amazing teacher for a mother.
When my brother David and I were little, Mom would mute the television and turn on the closed captioning, essentially forcing us to 'read' our cartoons. I never thought this was weird, but I imagine my friends and I had some confusing conversations because other parents didn’t do the same thing. Mom always encouraged us to ask questions and never bothered “dumbing down” her answers. She taught us to look for patterns, to think creatively, to draw our own conclusions.
Having a teacher for a mom gave me a special appreciation for my own teachers. I knew how much time they spent creating lesson plans and writing report cards…And how much of their own money they spent on classroom supplies. Teachers were real people to me, not like robotic Mrs. Donovan in the Charlie Brown cartoons. You know, “whah whah…” As a result, I was always respectful and well behaved in class, and I even had close relationships with some of my teachers.
I think being a parent can make you a better educator, and vice versa. I should know-- my grandmothers are both retired teachers, and my step mom is a pediatric nurse practitioner and camp counselor. Combined, they and my mother have touched the lives of thousands of people. But of all the kids my mom has taught over the years I know her greatest joy has been teaching her own.
