By Kara Brown, Education Manager

Teaching is a tough job; that’s a fact. In recognition of the women and men who perform this essential job, we at BizWorld.org want to celebrate teachers for more than just a week — so we’re celebrating Teacher Appreciation Month.

To celebrate, we thought about the multitude of things teachers do, the extra effort and hours, and the extraordinary positive impact they have on young minds, and we decided to come up with our top ten reasons to honor teachers this and every month of the year. Here’s what we came up with; what would you add?

Teachers matter because:

1. they face challenges head on developing engaging and creative lessons despite budget and time limitations.
2. they stay cool, despite the many mini-crises that inevitably occur every day.
3. they wear many hats besides teacher; they’re also mom, grandma, dad, coach, cheerleader, friend, lunch room monitor, and even traffic cop.
4. they’re kind to students, even when they’re having a bad day.
5. they model the joy of lifelong learning for their students by being eager to explore new ideas for the classroom (even technology – though it can be daunting!).
6. they care about what happens to their students – both inside and outside of the classroom.
7. they are masters of resourcefulness. (Who else would think to recycle empty ketchup containers into easy-squeeze paint containers?)
8. they create a welcoming environment for ALL kids.
9. they understand that not everyone learns in the same exact way, so they differentiate their lessons to address many types of learners
10. they are able to recognize the best in their students, and they understand that sometimes the kids who resist you the most are the ones who need you the most.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Month!