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Season 2: Episode 108 Description

In today's episode: 🍎 It's Teacher Appreciation Day so we're celebrating teachers and everything that they do for us! 🧑‍🏫 Correspondent Sarah Namias is on a field trip to talk to some students about what makes their teachers so great and why they appreciate them. ✨ Special Guest Alert: Tod Perry and Allison Rosen join us from the Upworthy Weekly podcast. And, test your teacher knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅

Sources

Teachers Appreciation Day Around the World - ChinesePod Official Blog

Teachers Spending More Out of Pocket on School Supplies Than Ever Before | News Direct

DonorsChoose: Support a classroom. Build a future.

Why Do Teachers Like Apples? | The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (childrensmuseum.org)

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TRANSCRIPT:

Bethany Van Delft  0:01  

Hey Ryan, which teacher would you say had the biggest influence on you?

Ryan Willard  0:04  

Probably Master Yoda. He was pivotal in my Jedi training.

Bethany Van Delft  0:05  

I mean, a school teacher.

Ryan Willard  0:05  

Oh, Miss Frizzle, I rode the magic school bus every day.

Bethany Van Delft  0:08  

Ryan, I mean, your teacher when you were in school.

Ryan Willard  0:23  

Ah, I see. Well, my favorite teacher was Miss Susan Kim. She taught me creative writing and was always really, really patient with all of my really ridiculous questions.

Bethany Van Delft  0:33  

Finally, thank you. That is great to hear. Today, we're celebrating teachers. It's Teacher Appreciation Day. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Tuesday, May 3rd and this is the Ten News. 

Various Voices  0:47  

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Ten'er  0:58  

Hi, I'm Sadie and I'm from California. My teacher Miss Sovern is the best. We love listening to the Ten News on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thanks for keeping it real with us kids. Go to Miss Sovern's class.

Ten’er  1:13

Hi, my name is Everett. I'm eight years old. And my favorite teacher is Miss Kirschmeyer because she always answers my life's questions. Well, thank you very much.

Bethany Van Delft  1:26  

Teachers do so much. Frankly, they deserve a standing ovation. Did you know that Teacher Appreciation Day is celebrated around the whole world? And in some places, it's not just one day but an entire month, like in the Philippines where students show how much they appreciate their teachers with flowers, poetry, and skits all through the month of May. Cool. In Singapore, Teacher Appreciation Day is a national holiday and everyone has the day off. Yes! In India, students celebrate their teachers with dances and award ceremonies. Winner. In China, students take part in Grand ceremonies honoring their teachers. Nice. And in Mexico, Classes are put on hold so students can thank teachers for the important work they do. Here in the US, most students bring gifts for their teachers like cards or flowers but get this, teachers in the US don't always have the necessary tools for their classes. So some teachers can spend up to $1,000 of their own money to provide classroom supplies.

Sound Bit  2:37  

That's crazy talk.

Bethany Van Delft  2:39  

One way families can thank their teachers is by helping fund the school supplies through organizations as Donors Choose. Donors Choose was founded by a teacher and on their website, grownups can donate to teachers across the country in need of supplies. Grab your grown-up and check it out at the link in the show notes. Before we continue celebrating teachers, just a quick reminder that there's still time to submit your best positive yo mama joke for Mother's Day. Yay, visit thetennews.com/contact and we might have you join us on the show. Oh my. It wouldn't be a proper Teacher Appreciation Day if we didn't hear from you. So, we sent Ten News correspondent Sarah Namias on a field trip to talk to some students about what makes their teachers so great and why they appreciate them. Take it away, Sarah.

Sarah Namias  3:35  

They are unsung heroes. They help to shape our minds and prepare us to be productive members of society. They challenge us to make the world a better place. Let's hear it for teachers. This week is all about showing our gratitude and appreciation to those who make an impact in our lives through education. I wanted to hear firsthand from kids about what teachers mean to them. So, on a bustling Thursday morning, I visited Mrs. Perez's third-grade classroom at the Glover School in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the students were bubbling with excitement and eager to share their thoughts on what teachers mean to them.

Ten'er  4:24  

Without them, I would literally know nothing like basically, as one of the only things I will know is how to talk, basically. Because you learn how to talk from your parents. But from school, you learn how to do a bunch of other different stuff that's important in life.

Sarah Namias  4:43  

What do teachers mean to you? Remind me your name one more time. Stella, What do teachers mean to you? What do you appreciate about teachers?

Ten'er  4:50  

I appreciate that they come in every day and they help us learn and if we didn't have teachers then we wouldn't know as much as we do. And so they have to make lessons and stuff. And they are somebody who can just show up every day to be with us.

Sarah Namias  5:07  

Do you think being a teacher is a hard job or an easy job?

Ten'er  5:10  

I think it's hard mainly because they don't, I think they should get paid more for what they do. And I think it's also hard to handle 918 kids when they're all like jumping around being crazy.

Sarah Namias  5:25  

Some wise words, indeed, I got to talk to so many amazing students in this class. And while I wasn't able to include everyone here for a time, I wanted to give a huge shout out to each and every one of them for their smart and thoughtful answers. And some funny ones as well. If you could be the teacher for a day, if we got to go back in this classroom right now, and you are the teacher, what would you do?

Ten'er  5:49  

I would probably have three recesses, one would probably be an indoor recess, and the second would be an outdoor recess. And the third would be movie recess. And then we just play games for every subject.

Sarah Namias  6:03  

Of course, I wanted to hear from their teacher, Mrs. Perez, about why being a teacher was the path she chose.

Mrs. Perez  6:09  

So I don't think it's not like I always grew up really wanting that actually, my mom was a teacher. And, on the other side of my family, my dad's mom was a principal. As I grow up, I kind of saw how much work it was. And I never thought I would choose that for myself. So it wasn't anything that I kind of always wanted to do. But as I grew up and kind of got into my 20s, I realized I did like working with children. And I do like the curriculum development part of it, and kind of just one thing led to another, and here I am, like 20 years later.

Sarah Namias  6:48  

What's your favorite thing about being a teacher?

Mrs. Perez  6:52  

Um, obviously, definitely the kids. Because they can just be so funny. And they're just so honest. And there, you know, just very present in every moment. And that can be challenging, but it also can be really fun. They're pretty great.

Sarah Namias  7:12  

I hope that you can take a moment this week to recognize the amazing educators around you. Tell your teachers that you appreciate them and everything they do to help you succeed.

Bethany Van Delft  7:24  

Thanks, Sarah. And thank you Ten'ers for that wonderful insight. It is so good to hear you all appreciate your awesome teachers so much. Ahh. Hey, Ryan, do you have the rundown for us?

Ryan Willard  7:43  

Actually, Bethany, we're pulling out all the stops for Teacher Appreciation Day instead of the rundown. We've got two special guests here. Todd Perry and Alison Rozen from one of my favorite podcasts. Upworthy Weekly. Alison, Todd. Welcome. Welcome.

Todd  7:58  

Hey, Bethany and Ryan, a teacher that made a huge difference in my life was Miss Maley at Carr Elementary School in Torrance, California. She was my second grade and fourth-grade teacher, she encouraged me to write. So one time we had to write a story using vocabulary words. And every other kid did like one page. And I did like seven pages. And she let me read the whole thing in front of the class and she laughed out loud and encouraged me to write and guess what? Today I make my living as a writer, and I love writing. So thank you, Miss Maley, from car Elementary.

Alison  8:29  

A teacher I appreciate the teacher that made a huge difference in my life was my fourth-grade teacher Miss Olson at Harbor Day School in Newport Beach, California. She is the one who introduced me to poetry in fourth grade, we had a big poetry segment each Friday, I believe we would memorize a poem and then we would come to school and we would stand up in front of the class and we would recite it. And some of the students did not love doing this, but I really loved it. And I discovered that I loved poetry. And this was a love for me that continued throughout school. I ended up being an English major, like Todd, and I am a writer as well. I did try my hand at poetry a bit. I'm not I don't write poems now. But I still love poetry. And it all goes back to Miss Olson and having us read and recite poetry in fourth grade. So thank you, Miss Olson.

Ryan Willard  9:19  

Thank you so much for joining us, Todd and Alison. You can check out the Upworthy Weekly podcast which is a lighthearted look at Upworthy his most popular and engaging stories every Saturday on all podcast platforms.

Bethany Van Delft  9:34  

Did you hear that? It's the...

Various Voices  9:36  

What, what, what's the big idea?

Bethany Van Delft  9:39  

Trivia on the Ten. Teachers work so hard they must get hungry. Which fruit is especially popular to give teachers in the Western world? Is it a) apples b) oranges or c) mangoes? Did you guess it? The answer is a. Why are apples so popular for teachers? Well, it all started in the 1700s in Scandinavia, farming families in Denmark and Sweden would give baskets of apples to teachers as payment. Then in the American West Frontier families were responsible for housing and feeding teachers. So the apple tradition continued. That's all for our Teacher Appreciation Day episode. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is giving teachers the high fives they deserve and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Adam Barnard, and Tessa Flannery. Sarah Namias contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft and thanks for listening to the Ten News. One of my favorite teachers was my second-grade teacher, Mr. Valentine now at the end of the year, he gave away little tiny baby chicks to the students who work the hardest. Oh my goodness, they're so cute. My mom did not let me have a chick.