The Summer Letter Every Educator Deserves

This article is adapted from Ted's Smart Thinking podcast episode 382: For the Educators.

A few weeks ago I went for a long walk after reading the Walton Family Foundation’s new report on the state of teaching, and I never really came back from it, at least not in my head. There were a few numbers in there I couldn’t shake, and the more I sat with them, the more I kept landing on the same question: what are we actually doing for our educators this summer?

Educators are everyone who works in a school or for a school: teachers, principals, superintendents, paraprofessionals, maintenance staff, admin assistants, coaches, lunchroom volunteers, all of it. Every single one of them supports the educational journey in their own way. But today I want to focus on one group in particular: the front facing classroom teacher.

What today’s teacher actually carries

Good luck finding another profession as committed to its mission as teaching. We could argue a few corners of healthcare come close, but I don’t think many professional groups carry what teachers carry, both the joyful parts and the heavy parts. In 2026, a classroom teacher is being asked to be all of the following, often in the same hour:

• A source of human and emotional support for students and colleagues, year round, not just during the school year.
• A financial backer, regularly buying supplies, snacks, coats, and shoes out of their own pocket.
• An architect and facilitator, responsible for lesson design, materials, feedback, testing, and differentiated support for every student in the room.
• A customer service agent, fielding emails and grade portal questions at all hours of the day and night.
• A technology team of one, constantly updating their own skills to keep pace with whatever new tool, app, or AI shortcut shows up next.
• A logistics and safety officer, moving 25 to 30 energetic kids through hallways and bus lines while also knowing the protocols for fire, severe weather, medical emergencies, and worse.

And they do all of this while working alongside their colleagues. Every staff lounge has its share of buffaloes, the ones who charge straight at a hard day, and its share of cows, content to graze along. Per Gallup, only about 33 percent of teachers in this country report being engaged at work, which leaves a whole lot of room for mooing. That is not a knock on teachers. It is a sign of how much is being asked of them.

The numbers behind the smile

There are an estimated 4 million teachers in the United States. For some context, there are 3.3 million nurses, 2.3 million waitstaff, 1.6 million accountants, and about a million carpenters. Teaching is one of the largest workforces in the country, and here is what that workforce is actually living through, according to the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup research:

• The average teacher works at least 53 hours a week. Across a school year, that is roughly 6.3 extra weeks of work beyond a standard 40 hour schedule, which is essentially what summer break is paying back.
• Teachers spend a minimum of $653 of their own money on their classrooms every year. In schools with significant poverty, that number climbs to $1,000 or even $3,000. Added up across the profession, that is $2.6 billion a year coming out of teachers’ own pockets.
• 71 percent of teachers hold at least one second job. About a third of those jobs are completely outside of education, things like retail or rideshare driving, while the rest are tutoring or coaching.
• 85 percent of teachers with side jobs are working them during the school year, not just over the summer.
• Roughly 3.1 million teachers nationwide are working two jobs or carrying extra contracts just to make ends meet.

So no more saying teachers get the summer off. That summer is the compensation for everything above and beyond that they already gave.

A story from my own kitchen table

For the last two years I have lived with two teachers, my wife Megan and my son Charlie. Megan is heading into her 31st year. Charlie just finished his second. They both teach eighth grade, in different schools, and I have had a front row seat to watching their relationship grow around their shared experience. Megan helps Charlie with lesson design. Charlie helps Megan figure out new technology and the language of his students, who are only nine years younger than him. Most nights, the two of them sit at the table and process the day together while I occasionally drop in some unhelpful policy speak from my years as a principal.

Twice this past year, I watched something simple completely change the energy in that conversation. Charlie, a relationship driven teacher who worries deeply about his students and colleagues, received a short, handwritten note from someone pointing out his energy, his care, and what a great colleague he was. It was a few sentences. It meant the world to him. Not long after, Megan received one too, after coming home night after night with a bag full of student work, lesson plans, and her own exhaustion. In both cases, what shifted them was not a raise or a day off. It was someone simply saying, I see you.

Why a data point can’t replace a person

We live in a data driven world, and too often the only feedback teachers get is a single data point from a single bad day. Data does not have a heartbeat, so it does not feel anything. But, as my friend Steve likes to remind me, it does deserve a response, and so do the people who generated every number behind it. When the only markers of success we track are test scores and growth metrics, we leave out everything else a teacher actually does. That gap is where self doubt creeps in, and it is exactly the gap a little recognition can close.

The smart thinking challenge: write the letter

Here is my challenge for you this summer, and it has nothing to do with a faculty meeting. Before I tell you what to do, let me tell you what not to do.

Do not send an email to your whole staff. Do not write a generic letter about how proud you are of everyone. People will read it as a form letter and delete it without a second thought, and honestly, a generic envelope showing up in July can even create anxiety about the year ahead.

Instead, write an actual, handwritten note to one person at a time. It does not need to be long. Two or three sentences is plenty, and it needs two ingredients: recognition of a specific effort, backed by real evidence you witnessed, and a celebration of their impact, whether that is something you saw directly or a compliment you overheard about them.

Here is what that sounds like. Dear Amy, I was thinking today about how hard you worked for Alex this year, especially the day he had a meltdown about his dog and you calmly talked him through it. You do that for every student, every day. Thank you. Sincerely, Ted.

That is it. Three sentences. But any educator reading that knows exactly how much was packed into that one day with Alex, and Amy will know that someone noticed. Imagine her walking to the mailbox on a random Tuesday in July, sorting through bills and flyers, and then seeing a handwritten envelope. That envelope wins every time.

Spread it further

One more idea worth trying: write a note to the people who support your staff at home. There is a real difference between school year Megan and summer Megan. School year Megan gives three chambers of her heart to her students and colleagues every day, which means she comes home running on fumes. A note to her family that says, we know how hard she worked this year and we appreciate what you do to support her at home, goes further than you would expect. The best compliments anyone ever receives are the ones other people hear secondhand.

Your smart thinking challenge this week

Take a few minutes and work through these three prompts.

• List the people you could write a note to this summer.
• Describe a simple process you could use to build this kind of recognition into your routine, not just this summer, but going forward.
• List the people who have written notes to you over the years, and think about how it felt to receive them.

That last one matters most. If you know how good it feels to be seen, you already know exactly what to put in the envelope.

Thank you, friends

Thank you to my educator friends, regardless of your role in your system, for everything you carry. For the nights you lie awake thinking about a student’s safety. For the way you lean in for your colleagues without being asked. For taking on the burden of everyone else because, frankly, it is just who you are. You are not alone in this, and you are seen. So buy the stamps, grab a card, and charge into this opportunity. Go elevate the life of an educator this summer.