Let’s give kudos to good teachers

Pauline Maranian loves her job and does it well.

That became evident last week when the Orange County Department of

Education awarded the nine-year teacher one of five golden-apple

trophies countywide.

The county department of education decided to award the Estancia

High drama and English teacher after receiving rave reviews from her

students and Newport-Mesa Unified School District staff.

Maranian must deserve the award. When she learned of the news, she

was teaching drama to 44 students. Either the class is overly packed

or the students really wanted her as their teacher.

Either way, if Maranian can get through to all of those students

in a single class, the 34-year-old is definitely the tops in her

profession.

“I’m just doing my job. ... I feel humbled by it all,” Maranian

said before pointing out that the validation of her work “just makes

me want to be even better.”

As most people know, teachers aren’t the millionaires in this

world. There are few who make six figures annually at any point in

their lifetimes. They do it because they want to teach. They want to

make a difference in children’s lives.

Most teachers will never be honored with a golden apple. They’ll

be lucky if they receive a trophy of any sort. Teachers could use

more validation, and it’s wonderful that Maranian received hers. But

parents and students, too, should go out of their way when possible

to tell their teachers how much a difference they do make.

Just like in any profession, there are bad teachers out there, but

whatever can be done to applaud the good teachers can keep them going

and encourage them to continue to improve themselves. After all,

there are many other jobs out there that pay a lot more that teachers

could just as easily fill.

Maranian sounds like she’s found her niche and her students past,

present and future will be better off as a result.