27 years of teaching with multiple classes means that I have taught, or tried to teach, over 4000 students. And that's nothing, really, compared to the PE, Art and Music teachers who teach everyone in the school. And it's double nothing compared to middle and high school teachers who may have 80 students tromp through their doors in one day. And Librarians? Forget about it, they are frontline warriors (in the best sense) spread very thin. I have the greatest respect for my colleagues. I do my small job well, but what classrooms teachers do? Lunch counts, newsletters, spelling tests, repeated reading logs, data collection...I could go on and on. We work hard, we earn our money.
And, beyond being paid well, our greatest reward is the support we receive from our communities, the parents of the students we teach, and the kids themselves. Love notes left on our computers. Birthday cupcakes delivered to our rooms. The urgency of a waving raised hand. There is no a day that swims past without me realizing that I am very, very lucky.
So, for all of those years when I've been thanked, I think it is only right that I give thanks back. To my kids and the parents who have shared them with me...
For every time you said hello in passing,
good bye and smiled without a reason.
For letting me cut the water fountain line.
For not being afraid to share your poems,
your wrong answers, your quick tears,
scraped knees and baby teeth.
For making me think and worry,
plan and replan because you were learning more
than I could toss in your direction.
For asking me to help, for being so tender
with you desire to do things right.
For telling me about your pet turtle,
your grandmother with cancer,
how hard it is to pick your birthday party invitees.
For trying the school lunch, just a bite, because I ask you to.
For those letters saying that you are sorry,
that you will never treat a lunch aide that way again.
For those letters telling me that you love me.
For those letters, signed "Your student"
and the ones signed, "Your friend."
For the Christmas cookies, the Valentines Day lollipops,
for singing happy birthday to me, cha cha cha.
For spotting me in a store and running over to speak.
For running over years later, when you are fifteen
or twenty-five, not ashamed to yell out
in front of your friends, "Misssss Reinhold!"
For letting me be hard on you,
for rising to every occasion,
for trusting me to be someone to be trusted.
For telling the truth, over and over,
and speaking out against injustice.
For wanting things to be fair,
and for people to be kind to each other.
For your indignation at this crazy world
and what happens in it.
For telling me about the shows you watch
and the things you learn on Animal Planet
and the History Channel.
For your insistence that life is good
and peace is possible and we are all one big family.
For singing with me, even when I don't sing so well.
For making me laugh every single day.
For doing all of the work, your soft noses
pressed to the page, your hands curled around the pencil.
For being so generous in so many ways,
I thank you and thank you and thank you again.
I know this post is about appreciating the joy students can bring to the life of a teacher but, in this week of teacher appreciation (I got two for one Chipotle yesterday) I would like to say "thank you" again for having a tremendous impact on my life. I still talk about the amazing learning that took place in your classes. I still talk about being a mediator. I still talk about how you made learning come alive. I try every day to emulate your energy in my interactions with my students.
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