Every day, teachers show up to school before most students are even awake. They prepare lessons, answer emails, grade assignments, and try to make learning feel meaningful–even on the days when it’s hard. They don’t just teach math or English; they help students figure out who they are, what they care about, and what kind of future they want.
For how important their jobs are, teachers around the country aren’t getting the pay or respect they deserve.
A lot of students don’t see everything teachers actually do. We see them in class for about an hour, but we don’t see them taking home stacks of papers to grade. We don’t see them writing lesson plans at 10 p.m…