Society is changing in undeniable ways. Too many children are learning to navigate the world with an grossly inflated sense of entitlement; not only do they feel the world around them should cater to their every want and mood, they deserve to have it that way. Too many families are approaching their interactions with school in general as distrustful, if not adversarial, and are all too willing to swallow any half-truth their child will tell to stay out of trouble as carved-in-stone gospel. People outside of education still fall back on making the same jokes about teachers having summers off, and remain ignorant of how we work with unrealistic expectations and demands while performing the largely thankless job of establishing an informed population. They think that because they went to school and saw the teachers pass out worksheets and lead the Pledge of Allegiance, that gives them a good window into how we spend our days.
Granted, I’m using some pretty broad generalizations here, and these things are not at all true about everyone. But after twenty-five years in this career, I’ve reached a point where no number of coffee tumblers printed with inspirational sayings or notepads with apple designs will ever balance everything out.
The only people I know who truly understand how difficult this job is are the other people who do it. If they expressed appreciation for something I did, that would mean something to me. So with that in mind, I’m going to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Day by expression my appreciation to my some of my colleagues. Not all of them, unfortunately; I’m mainly limiting myself to the people I’ve had the most contact with this year to keep this post under 2,000 words. But for anyone else I work with and didn't include on this list: I know what you do every day. I know what you've had to go through in the lowest moments. I've been there myself. And we're all lucky that you still keep coming back to do the job.
Betsy: My longtime friend, my teaching partner, my sounding board. You support me and challenge me in equal measure, and are more reliable than anyone I can think of when it comes to calling me on my B.S. Even though you’ve had your share of discouraging moments in recent years, you still look for opportunities to bring greater engagement into your classroom, mostly to benefit the learning and but also to preserve your sanity.
Sally: The last remaining person from my original team, and the first of my colleagues to confide in me. My friend for half of my life. Part of me will be lost after you leave.
Kelly: Your positive disposition, your commitment to the job and the students, and your expectations for them are always on display, even during a year like this with extra layers of challenges to get through. You help me gain perspective on what I need to do and focus on, and to find what’s truly important.
Hufflepuff: Your year has had its rocky moments, but you have never let your frustration or any roadblocks get the best of you. Your efforts to maintain the best consistency you can for your students is something they may not always appreciate now, but it will make a difference for them later. Plus you’re awesome lunchtime comic relief.
Sarah: Even if you seem hesitant to accept credit for it, your leadership actually made me start to believe our PLC meetings this year were worthwhile. That is no small feat. I’m glad I had the chance to work with you.
Deanna: I am continually amazed to witness how hard you work, and how much you clearly care for each of your students. My last three years would have been very different without your help and guidance. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done.
Michelle: The fact that you have persevered during the past few years with all of the challenges your job has presented — not the least of which being particular students who have been determined to force you into giving up on them — says a lot about how dedicated you are. We’re lucky to have you for whatever fraction of the week the schedule allows.
Chris: Even if you’re still early in your career and we didn't have a lot of intersections other than those early mornings on Day 5, your pursuit of learning and wanting to find new ways to do things better for the benefit of your students has been great to witness. Your questioning this year has challenged me, the old dog, to not only think deeper about my own instructional decisions, but to consider options I had not yet explored.
Colleen: You’ve transitioned to so many different positions in your MB tenure without ever dropping off the quality you’ve brought to each. I’m glad to have someone to talk to about the non-school things, who also has a sense of humor even a few shades darker than mine.
Shae: I’ve seen you with students in enough incidental moments and have been witness to enough of your conversations to see how much compassion drives what you do. Knowing what you’re already capable of and that you’ll keep getting better every year makes me wish and hope I’ll be there to see who you are in ten or twenty years. I’m very happy I’ll get to witness that evolution continue for awhile longer.
Janelle: You’re literally one of the few people left in our building I have actual history with. I’m glad I have television to talk about with you, along with an archive of decade-old inside jokes and references that will bring on the patented Janelle Laugh whenever they come up. I’m both astonished by and proud of the teacher you’ve become.
Jenni: After so many years of only kind of knowing each other, you came into a center court of my daily life very suddenly, then were gone from it almost as abruptly. It was only two years, but we had a decent run while it lasted.
Reed: I’m often still surprised to have not just another person, but another GUY, and one almost my age, in the building who takes both children’s literature and music nerdery as seriously as I do. I love seeing how no quarter is ever offered to any goofball in your domain. And thank God I have someone around with the sensibility to not only subtly bury a random link to an obscure 80s music reference in professional online documents, but also to make sure that I noticed it.
Georgine: You are a classic example of how, regardless of whatever job titles people have in an educational setting, we all teach in some way. The number of people who have learned from you, including me (portable, anyone?) is incalculable. Our school absolutely will not be the same without you.
Jane: Who would have thought back when we were half of the greatest team in the history of all curriculum writing that we’d still get to spend as much time together as we have this year? I’ve always felt privileged whenever I’ve had the chance to take advantage of your moderating perspective and insight.
And last but not least, Pam: Your strength in establishing relationships with your students makes my job much easier when they get to older grades, since they’ve already learned teachers can be people they can get along with and trust even while they are being held accountable. (And seriously, you can stop singing to me any day now. Though I know you probably never will.)
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