Teachers Are People Too

Quita Oritz, a PojoaqueNews.com community journalist, submitted the following story.

Quita is a 1998 PVHS graduate. She holds a Master’s degree in Applied Geography and is presently employed as a Acequia Community Planner for the New Mexico Acequia Association.

Quita Ortiz

I wasn’t a particularly studious child while attending grade school at what was then called Pojoaque Valley Elementary School, now known as Cities of Gold Casino. I was the B Honor Roll archetype, inherently particular about the subjects that I found worthy of my undivided attention. I liked some of my teachers, and there were some that I wasn’t fond of.

In any case, I never pondered about their lives. I do, however, recall those awkward confrontations on the rare occasion that you’d run into one at teacher at a store. They were awkward because in my view they weren’t people; they were teachers.

Teachers were these unique, unclassifiable breeds who I was sure lived in their classrooms. They didn’t have homes or families or hobbies. They didn’t possess the need to eat or sleep. They were living beings of some sort no doubt, but they weren’t quite human simply because they were teachers.  That was back in the 1980’s and 1990’s…

Fast forward to the modern 21^th Century when I married someone majoring in elementary education who, upon graduation, landed a gig in the Pojoaque Valley School District where he teaches second grade.

Since I now have a front row seat of what a teacher’s life consists of, my view of educators has been widely broadened. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the role of educators when I was in grade school; it’s that I didn’t see behind the scenes how much they care about all the random strangers who come into their “home” five days a week – their students.

Even if I did appreciate it on some level, I certainly didn’t have the capacity to recognize it. I’m quite sure my husband’s students hold him in high regard, even when their adorably blunt tendencies shine through by pointing out his limited wardrobe and how he wears the same shoes almost everyday. Kids do say the darndest things.

But even with their generous reverence for him, they’re young children who certainly don’t realize what he does for them during what would be, in most professions, free time. Granted he is still green in his field and he’s still the quasi-“new guy” who is learning the ins and outs of our questionable public education system in which he works, but never have I seen someone work so hard and dedicate so much of his time for such an insulting salary.

This is the life of a teacher. It must be the success of the students that is perpetually fueling their tick. Inspiring our future generations of community leaders is highly commendable, yet society as a whole still doesn’t grant teachers the recognition they deserve.

So the next time you’re concerned with your child’s grades, or you show up as the teacher is gathering his/her things to go home because you’re half an hour late for your parent-teacher conference, or you call your child’s teacher while he/she is eating dinner; I implore you to acknowledge the reality of teachers’ lives: they’re overextended, underpaid, and underappreciated for their contributions to society – the education of our children.  Although their classroom can sometimes seem like their home away from home, I can now say for certain that teachers don’t live in their classrooms. So let us not forget that they have families to go home to, and they too enjoy hobbies and life outside the classroom.

As it turns out, teachers are people too.