Dear Teachers at Open House

Last night I attended Christian and Ellee’s Back to School Open House.  And as I sat there, listening to the speeches, looking around at the nicely decorated classrooms and thinking about our kids, there were a few things that I thought of, that I wanted their teachers to know.  So I thought that if I were to compose a letter to them, this is how it might go:

Dear Teachers at Open House,

Wow.  There are just so many things that I, as a parent, would love for you to know.

First off, thank you for the time that you took to get ready for tonight.  Your classrooms look beautiful with all of your educational and inspirational posters.  I love that somehow, in the three or four days of actual school that you had during these past two weeks (thanks to Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah), you managed to get your students to complete quite a few special projects just for this night.  For goodness sakes, Ellee somehow wrote an entire book about herself, with illustrations, and as a parent, I absolutely loved it.

Also, you all (Between Ellee and Christian, I met six teachers) looked so fantastic.  Every teacher that I saw in the building was dressed very nice and very professional and if it was a concerted effort, well done teachers.  You all looked great and put together and I kind of feel silly even typing this, because of course people are so much more than their clothing, but I think that as a parent, it was just nice to see.

I’d like you to know that as a parent sitting and listening to all that our children would do, I was thoroughly impressed.  You teachers are amazing.  Teaching all of those subjects to a variety of learners is no easy task.  But tonight, I could see your excitement and your passions.  I could see that you loved education and that you would do an amazing job passing that love on to your students.

My last observation was how nicely you interacted with us, the parents.  You took time to acknowledge and affirm every parent that stood patiently waiting for a little of your time.  You smiled and assured us as we nervously shared our hearts for our children.  And so many of us were able to walk away, knowing that for another year, our kids were in fantastic hands.

So to the teachers of our Open House, I thank you.  Over the next school year, you’ll spend just over 1,100 hours with our kids.  You’ll educate them, but you’ll also love them, because those are the kinds of people that teachers are.  And know that your hard work will not go unnoticed.  Know that there are so many parents like myself that will have such love and appreciation and thankfulness for all that you do.  Know that you will be in our prayers and in the hearts of our kids.  We love you and we thank you.

Sincerely,

Laura Herr