Teachers take a lot of crap, and and those teaching in DCPS have the added insult of being used as political punching bags on a regular basis. The difficulty of their jobs is frequently misunderstood, and their hard work doesn’t come with the prestige or career ladders than many other professions enjoy. While much has been made over the District’s bad apples during this time of education reform, a significant number of our city’s teachers are working their asses off, something that gets overlooked more often than not.

In honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week, we thought we’d pass along these videos released by DCPS, profiling some of the city’s outstanding teachers. (You can also watch Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s message to teachers here.) The music is cheesy, and it might have been nice to hear the teachers speak about the challenges they face, or show them actually teaching, but it’s good to see the time being taken to recognize some of our city’s finest, even as they continue to wait for a contract vote and two years worth of retroactive pay raises. So remember to thank the teachers in your life this week.