Why My Husband Is My Hero, Part One

Disclaimer: I am the wife of a public school teacher. As such, I have very strong views on teachers in general, and the teachers I know, love and greatly respect. The views here are my own, and any resemblance to the views espoused by others is purely coincidence (or similarity of political leaning).

Why My Husband Is My Hero

Now, this list is going to be woefully incomplete, but think of it as an organic thing, growing and developing and being added to over the coming months and years.

- He stays up late reading, re-reading and puzzling through the sometimes hard-to-read and understand scribblings of his students, in order to ensure that they get marked fairly, and receive their marks in good time.

- He keeps calm and civil when faced with challenging, belligerent, intractable and sometimes verbally abusive behaviour. This is from students, parents of students, and also from people he would call friends in public venues.

- He devotes hours of his at-home time to developing interesting and dynamic lesson plans that seek to engage his students on multiple levels, using current literature and multimedia presentations, as well as bringing in talented actors to do workshops, all in the name of increasing the quality of his students' educational experience.

- He wakes up every day, even when he doesn't want to, even when he's sick, even when the thought of snuggling in next to me for the next hour is far more enticing, and he goes in to work, knowing full well that he may not see a student get that "lightbulb moment" today, but then again, he might.

- He sees 45% of his paycheque get eaten up by union dues, CPP payments, pension payments, and other benefits and deductions so that his take-home pay resembles a fast food restaurant manager's income. This is done with the knowledge that there are dividends to enjoy in the future, when he has finished spending some 35 years molding young minds. It doesn't make it any easier to pay off student loans or to feed his family now, but he's willing to do it in order to enjoy a semi-comfortable retirement.

- He expects his students to do their best work, always. And he gives that to them in return.

- He taps into the immense and broad range of learning that he achieved in 11 years of university to bring anecdotes, curious facts, obscure references and all of those little things that make a teacher memorable in the minds of students into his classroom.

- He dresses up in 10th century Norse clothing, and recites Beowulf - in Old English - because it's cooler that way.

- He inspires Primus to be a teacher.

- He tells me that I don't have to go back to work once Quarta is in school.

- He spends all day teaching, then comes home and cooks dinner more often than not.

- He sees people denigrating teachers, especially during labour disputes, and responds not in anger, but in an attempt to increase knowledge and understanding. And when these attempts are thrown back in his face, he still does not respond to them in anger; he holds his tongue rather than offend another.

- He gives second, third and fifteenth chances to students that show no interest in applying themselves, or in being proactive in seeking help when they need it.

- He believes in his students, even when they don't believe in themselves.

- He shows me every day what a man of integrity looks like. He models this for our sons, who are learning how to be the best men they can be because of him.

- He does an increasingly thankless job, with fewer resources and more expectations placed on him every year, and he continues to do it to his own very high standards.

As always, comments are welcome. This is a hot-button topic; as such, please keep it civil, keep it clean, keep it focused on positive communication and understanding. Anything I feel is insulting, negative or abusive will be removed without notice. My blog, my rules.