This week and next, it’s Teacher Appreciation Week all over the country.

Evidently, there’s been some confusion about whether it’s this week or next, due to debate about what constitutes the “first full week in May.”

In my opinion, we should appreciate the work teachers do all year long.

At Brandywine, we honor all our staff this week. The work that bus drivers, food service workers, custodians, office staff, and administrators do all contributes to the success of schools, and we are proud to help make our schools successful.

Without hard working teachers who care about kids, we could never see our students reach their potential.

Teaching today’s students is way harder than it was when I started as a substitute in Detroit back in 1973. The emphasis on every student succeeding on standardized tests, the explosion of information and knowledge, the technological revolution ,and the more challenging lives kids themselves live nowadays are all issues that had little or way less impact back in the day.

Yet one of my favorite sayings is as true today as it was back when I dusted chalk off my hands all day long: “Teaching is a very tough job — when you do it right.”

I could share countless examples of that hard work done right, but some recent ones come to mind.

I dropped in on a teacher over her lunch hour this fall to ask some questions about the new technology we got for students. She had two boys in her room, and they were all sharing a pizza the teacher bought for them. She explained to me that the boys could not get along with each other, and they were working on ways to make the school year go better for them.

She could have issued ultimatums, punished them in some way or other, or maybe even ignored the situation.

Instead, she chose to spend her own time and money on them to try to get them to solve their own problems.

The fancy “edu-speak” term for this sort of method is called “restorative justice.” I call it common sense, hard work and caring about kids.

A teacher I’ve known for many years, who now teaches near Detroit, shared some social studies teaching ideas with me awhile back.

She takes stories, books and parts of biographies and connects them in lessons to the U.S. history she’s teaching. The lessons from these readings are fun and challenging for her students, and they are way more engaged in social studies than they have ever been before.

These lessons represent hours of work over the summer and on weekends.

Again, a tough job done right, out of caring about her kids’ success and love for learning.

So, take some time this week or next to give thanks and appreciate a teacher or school worker that you think has made a difference in your own life or the lives of your children.

John Jarpe is the superintendent of Brandywine Community Schools. He can be reached at (269) 684- 7150.