Think of some of the people who have been most influential in your life. The people who have taught you, motivated you, helped you, inspired you. I’m sure you’ve thought of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends… and teachers.

Teachers are undoubtedly some of the most overlooked people in our lives. We spend hours with them a day, and often don’t see or appreciate the work they put in to make our classroom experience a good one.

The National Center for Education Statistics reports there are a projected 3.1 million public school teachers in this country, who make an average of $56,383 a year. Of course, this pay varies greatly based on your location, level of education and number of years in the profession. National Education Association reports that in addition to their hours spent teaching during the school day, educators spend 12 hours a week on non-compensated school-related responsibilities, like grading papers, preparing for classes and meeting with students and parents. It makes sense that teachers devote this much time to their job, too. Think back to that influential teacher in your life: chances are, you could find them hours after school ended meeting with students, grading the test you took earlier that day or advising a club.

My mom is a teacher, and in my eyes, a great one. She – like many other teachers – are in the field because of how much she genuinely cares about helping others and seeing them succeed. Her drive to make a difference is inspiring. She tries to make her classroom - and school - as resourceful, helpful, inviting and motivating as possible. I see her working above and beyond to make this happen… to instill that same kind of drive for success and change in her students.

So many teachers share my mom’s passion for making an impact on a student’s life, and for good reason – they are the profession that shapes our nation’s future. So many great ideas, plans and futures start in the classroom.

With all this in mind – the potential for low pay, difficult students, uninvolved parents, long work days – it’s safe to say that teachers don’t always get the credit they deserve. I mean, think of all that teachers have done for you. It was your elementary school teachers that taught you to read and write, encouraged you to make friends and tied your shoes for you before you knew how. It was your middle school teachers that helped define your interests, teach you the foundations of core subjects and endured your awkward phase with you. It was your high school teachers that got you to try your hardest, helped you to make decisions about your future and listen to your inevitable drama at the time.

Teachers have the potential to make a huge impact on a student’s life, and chances are, they will. And even for the teachers who you may not have been fond of, they helped shape you to the thinker or student you are today.

So, I encourage you to give teachers the credit they deserve. To the teachers who have impacted you in some way – whether they helped you choose a college, got you interested in a class or subject, served as your mentor or opened your eyes to a future you wouldn’t have otherwise seen – say thank you, because they deserve some more appreciation than they're getting!