An "Open Letter" to Governor Culver From a First Year Iowa Teacher

April 24, 2007


Dear Governor Culver,

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for caring about educators in Iowa and for the hard work that we daily put into our classroom and the countless hours we spend before, after, and at home preparing for our students and their future.

As a former banker for 13 years, this has been my first year in the classroom teaching 7th grade with special needs. I have such a passion for students with Learning Disabilities and Behavior Disorders that I chose a career change to follow my dream of helping these students, my future.

With the year coming to an end, and many tears later, I am thankful that I chose this path. There are days that I think "What did I do?!?" but, then there are those days that I am so incredibly amazed at what these students (my students) are learning and how good they feel about themselves and the dedication they are putting into their studies to improve and with some of them achieving the honor roll for the first time ever is incredible to watch the excitement in their eyes that they achieved it all on their own.

So, I just wanted to say thank you for feeling that we, as teachers, are worth it because although I definitely did not go into teaching for the money it is nice to know that our government feels we are important enough to be compensated for our hard work and dedication that we put in every single day (yes, even in the summer, we never stop thinking about how we can improve our skills or ideas to incorporate into the classroom).

Thank You, Governor Culver and thank you to our incredible men and women who support our teachers.

Educating our future,

Lisa L Hintzman
7th Grade Multi-Categorical Special Needs Teacher
Hoover Middle School
Waterloo, IA