Arizona students show love for their teachers

+ Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Arizona students show love for their teachers As students across the country celebrate teachers and school staff, some thoughtful learners in Arizona articulate why they appreciate theirs. National Arizona students show love for their teachers May 10, 20265:04 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By Noor Haghighi Arizona students show love for their teachers Listen &middot; 2:46 2:46 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5814967/nx-s1-9764323" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript As students across the country celebrate teachers and school staff, some thoughtful learners in Arizona articulate why they appreciate theirs. Sponsor Message EMILY FENG, HOST: Around the country, many have been celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week. Kids really do appreciate their teachers and school staff who often make a big difference in their lives. Arizona Public Media's Noor Haghighi reports from Tucson.

+ NOOR HAGHIGHI, BYLINE: Priscilla Dunkin is a fourth grader at Centennial Elementary School, with pink blush on her freckled cheeks. PRISCILLA DUNKIN: In second grade, I had Miss Raboza, and she was a really good teacher. I was a little bit of a troublemaker in second grade, but it's OK 'cause she helped me grow not being a troublemaker. HAGHIGHI: Dunkin tells me all about her current teacher, Mrs. Groom. PRISCILLA: Whenever we're doing math and we don't know something, instead of, like, yelling at us, like - do your work, and you don't need help or anything like that - she would explain it out to us, and she would help us understand it. HAGHIGHI: Dunkin's classmate Dejonae Allen says she really can't imagine a life without her teachers and her beloved librarian, Mrs. Martell. DEJONAE ALLEN: I don't think that we'd have works and be able to know the amount of things like tying your shoes and just knowing how to spell. HAGHIGHI: The National Education Association recently ranked Arizona 49th in the nation for per-student spending and 39th for the average teacher's starting salary. More than 8,000 teachers in the state quit between 2024 and 2025. But Santiago Davila, a second grader at Davis Romero Bilingual Elementary Magnet School, can tell that his teachers, like Senor Barcelo, are making an effort. SANTIAGO DAVILA: He was pretty nice. He was, like, fun, and he was a little funny. Once I was struggling in math in first grade, and he helped me. Yeah, but second-grade math, you get to do multiplication, even more. HAGHIGHI: And Meleia Anderson, who's an eighth grader at Orange Grove Middle School, says she attributes a lot of her success to teachers like Mr. Bindschadler. MELEIA ANDERSON: When you can find a teacher like Mr. B., it not only makes me excited to go to school, but it makes me actually see the impact that I can have on my future - not only Mr. B., but all my science teachers, all my math teachers. I mean, just the drastic jump that I can have simply because they've decided to put effort into what they're doing, I think is going to be something that I'll take with me forever. HAGHIGHI: For NPR News, I'm Noor Haghighi in Tucson. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1168:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(321)},321:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(82)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1141),c(116),c(95),c(52),c(492),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1142),c(144),c(1143),c(238),c(48),c(1144)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1168,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();