This story originally ran in “Ed Chat,” a weekly newsletter from The Alabama Education Lab team at AL.com. Sign up here.

This is Teacher Appreciation Week, friends. I’m seeing lots of social media posts from school districts showing love for their teachers. And I’m reflecting on what I’ve learned about teachers since my early days as a sometimes-angry, always-engaged single parent of three young children.

Back in the day, I was pretty hard on the teachers in my children’s schools. I had high expectations, expecting them to perform at the top of their game more days than not. School looked very different from what I experienced in the ‘70s and ‘80s.