{"id":6463,"date":"2014-05-06T22:48:13","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T02:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?p=6463"},"modified":"2014-05-06T22:48:13","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T02:48:13","slug":"teacher-appreciation-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/05\/teacher-appreciation-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Teacher Appreciation Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"Photo: Teachers, your encouragement, support and guidance inspire a love of learning in your students, and your work in the classroom gives them the skills and self-confidence they need to succeed. Today, on National Teacher Appreciation Day, we thank you for all that you do.\" src=\"https:\/\/scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-frc3\/t1.0-9\/p526x296\/10260022_10152205358677713_4266118034148927407_n.jpg\" width=\"504\" height=\"504\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Teachers come in all forms. From the moment we are born, life itself is a teacher, bringing with it all manner of lessons. We are curious creatures, taking in the world with all of our senses.\u00a0 Even when I was little, I loved playing school. Our neighbors, the Novasatkas had a back porch with an awning that would be our &#8216;classroom.&#8217;\u00a0 Guess who always played teacher?\u00a0 Interestingly, I had not pursued education as\u00a0a degree nor a mainstream classroom as my workplace. Wonder why?<\/p>\n<p>My favorite teacher of all time, was Richard Serfling. He and Christie Richards co-led our combined 4th, 5th and 6th grade experimental class in our suburban South Jersey town of Willingboro. What I loved most about him was his encouragement of out of the box thinking. He seemed to understand the various learning styles of each student. Some absorbed information best by listening, some by reading, some by writing and others were hands on-learners. I think I had a bit of each that carry through to this day. We incorporated music, creative writing, outdoor observation; on warm days, we would do our work in the courtyard right outside the classroom. Friday afternoons two of our classmates would bring in guitars and we would have a hootenanny; singing\u00a0hippie-esque songs such as Where Have All The Flowers Gone?\u00a0, Blowin&#8217; in the Wind and \u00a0This Land is Your Land.<\/p>\n<p>He respected questioning of standard ways of thinking. I asked a lot of questions(:<\/p>\n<p>I credit him in part with my decision to become a journalist, since he\u00a0enticed me to keep writing. There are some teachers who have a way about them that challenge learning norms, stretching beyond expectations.\u00a0 He did that.<\/p>\n<p>I have many teachers who do work in the classroom and I honor the dedication they have for their students and guiding them to be expansive thinkers. Lest you think it is an 8 hour a day job with summers off, I&#8217;m here to tell you that most teachers I know, get to work by 7 and sometime don&#8217;t leave until 5 or later. They pay out of their own pockets for classroom d\u00e9cor and sometimes spend summers teaching school or taking continuing ed\u00a0 classes. They also come in before the school year starts to get their classrooms ready for the year. Then there are parent- teacher conferences and meetings with parents and tutoring of students in need of extra help and sponsoring after school clubs and activities.<\/p>\n<p>Hard to imagine that there are people who think teachers are overpaid.\u00a0 Is there anything much more important that the education of children? I bless those who find this as their calling and am grateful to know that what I learned in Mr. Serflng&#8217;s classroom will serve me and the next seven generations.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Teacher Appreciation Song\" href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/vwsKWiXlA78\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/youtu.be\/vwsKWiXlA78 <\/a>Teacher Appreciation Song by Brian Asselin<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit:\u00a0 United Federation of Teachers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teachers come in all forms. From the moment we are born, life itself is a teacher, bringing with it all manner of lessons. We are curious creatures, taking in the world with all of our senses.\u00a0 Even when I was little, I loved playing school. Our neighbors, the Novasatkas had a back porch with an&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,13,70,33,19,3,4,2493,16],"tags":[3787,4897,3785,3786,3783,2473,3791],"class_list":["post-6463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss","category-blissfull-thinking","category-community","category-creativity","category-empowerment","category-gratitude","category-inspiration","category-mentoring","category-my-personal-bliss","tag-blowing-in-the-wind","tag-edie-weinstein","tag-hoontenanny","tag-teacher-appreciatoin-day","tag-teachers","tag-where-have-all-the-flowers-gone","tag-3791"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Teacher Appreciation Day - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/05\/teacher-appreciation-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teacher Appreciation Day - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teachers come in all forms. From the moment we are born, life itself is a teacher, bringing with it all manner of lessons. We are curious creatures, taking in the world with all of our senses.\u00a0 Even when I was little, I loved playing school. Our neighbors, the Novasatkas had a back porch with an&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/05\/teacher-appreciation-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-07T02:48:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-frc3\/t1.0-9\/p526x296\/10260022_10152205358677713_4266118034148927407_n.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teacher Appreciation Day - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/05\/teacher-appreciation-day.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teacher Appreciation Day - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"Teachers come in all forms. From the moment we are born, life itself is a teacher, bringing with it all manner of lessons. We are curious creatures, taking in the world with all of our senses.\u00a0 Even when I was little, I loved playing school. 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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