It’s a well-known truism that the end of the school year brings out the crazy, the absurd, the unpredictable. But there’s something else, less widely acknowledged, that coming-to-the-end-of-things can stir up: gratitude. Something about that last stretch makes us see our classrooms, our teachers, our students with a slightly different tint, one that can sometimes reverberate with premature nostalgia. Perhaps that’s why the powers that be decided to place Teacher Appreciation Week quite strategically near the end of the school year. That, or perhaps they knew we’d need it. A LOT.
Whatever the reason, when we invited students on both campuses to put up post-it notes about why they love SA teachers, they had a whole lot to say. As a result, I learned a thing or two about what it is about our faculty that actually inspires our saints.
- They like it that we (and our classes) are FUN.
2. They appreciate that we make them BETTER in our various fields.
3. They’ve noticed we can be pretty dang kind.
4. Sometimes the reasons they appreciate us are . . . ummm . . . a little unexpected.
5. But, mostly, they can tell we believe in them even on the days when they don’t necessarily live up to our expectations. And that makes all the difference.
Teaching is hard. Being a kid is hard. School is long and tedious. So on those tough days, those counting-down-until-the-end-I-can-barely-hold-it-together days, we could all use some post it notes to remind us of a few things:
