It's incredibly disheartening to teachers to work hard and be told they are lazy, don't work as hard as others, are overpaid or paid sufficiently (when they have to get a second job as a janitor to support their families), and should teach mandated curriculum created by someone else, neutering their professional identity.

If you're serious about helping teachers, start by acknowledging their worth.

Then, call your state rep and tell them how much you'll pay extra in taxes if they will create a bill to raise taxes solely for teacher salaries. Or, in the meantime, give out $500 gift cards to the teachers you feel deserve it.

A lot of people say they want to help teachers, but they don't want to pay for it. And money is the #1 reason teachers tell me they are switching careers in my master's program. They have families to feed too, and 35K as a young teacher just isn't enough.