The Value of a Penny and a Caring Teacher

I retired from teaching a decade ago; but I’m still interested in what happens in classrooms today.

So I check out several Facebook pages where teachers go to bond, to commiserate, to ask advice and share plans.

I am constantly reminded how many dedicated professionals are out there, working to help young people grow in all kinds of ways.

Today, I saw the post below by Peter Jas on Middle School Social Studies, a page with 3,300 members.

I thought it captured in a very basic way the sparks all good teachers try to cause to fly in young people—the response of an interested student—and the great concern of an educator for the child.

So, with his permission, I copied it to my blog and fixed a missing punctuation mark and added an “l” to “til.” I can’t help myself. I was a teacher. 

I have to check grammar, right?

A student came to class today with a 1892 penny. He found it in his back yard. Way cool! We study it under the magnifying glass. Value, maybe $2-3.00. Just a really neat find. It is in rugged condition. It’s been underground probably about 100 years. I told him to keep it as a special souvenir. At the end of the day he wanted to give me his coin! I told him I would get a coin holder and keep it for him until June. He said he would lose it at home. We are keeping it in our classroom. If he does not want it in June, I’ll keep it till he graduates high school. I’ll pass it back to him then. Middle School teacher moment! This is why we teach history.

This is why we teach history, indeed. This is exactly why Mr. Peter Jas (a pen name to throw off students on Facebook), and so many of you devote your lives to helping children every day.

My experience, personally, and having been fortunate to see so many of my colleagues working their own brands of magic every day, is that what we can, even in the smallest of ways, have lifelong impacts on those we teach. No doubt, Mr. Peter Jas, a 31-year veteran in the classroom, is having that kind of impact now, has in the past, and will in years to come.

To all dedicated young teachers, I would also say, “Keep up the good work.” If you are doing the job correctly, it will always be hard. At least one day a week, if not five, it will drain you emotionally. Still, even on the bad days, when it seems you might not be having the impact you would want, if you truly care you almost surely are, often in the subtlest ways. Older teachers know, because students come back and tell them so. As for you younger folks , you can catch up on your rest when you’re old and wizened, like me.

Now, having exhausted my fingers typing, I need a nap.

Not the penny found; but you get the idea.

Peter Kappas (pen name Jas) teaches eighth grade U.S. History and Personal Finance at Freedom Area Middle School in Freedom, Pennsylvania.