7 Things I Teacher-Appreciate: Teacher Appreciation Week
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, I didn't want to whine or complain about all the things I can whine and complain about. Go watch some Tik-Toks if you're here for that. I'm not complaining for once.
Instead, here are some things I have been noodling on for a while; some things, as a teacher, that I appreciate--some things that I want to get down in writing in case I need them again.
1) Free Cookies.
And other things, of course.
I thought it would make sense to start with the obvious: the gifts. Everything I was given this week comes from a place of care, gratitude, and inspiration.
Was all of it perfect and excellent and wonderful? Of course not. What is, really, at the end of the day always perfect and excellent and wonderful? The sheer act of someone expressing gratitude is something for which I will never not be thankful.
2) The Before and After School Crowd of Students Smothering the Tiny Space in My Office.
I get easily overstimulated--sensory overload remains an effect I am far too susceptible too. I can barely sit next to someone in the movies without focusing on the munching of their popcorn. I can't focus in a meeting if the fluorescent lights are buzzing--or the microphone is echoing too much. Hearing my name said too much at me during passing period makes me want to run down the hall and avoid it forever. I often have to walk way in rage in those moments--take a breath.
And, yet, I can't help but feel appreciative and thankful for those students that crowd my tiny office and make it hard to move, to see, to hear anything other than the utter chaos that ensues of having more than 10 students in what I can only describe as a supply closet sized space.
Because, you know, they find something in there: safety, joy, fun, trust. How can I be anything but appreciative for their sheer desire just to be around? It lets me know that I am doing something right--even if, in the moment, I want to shut the door and sit in the corner.
I'll sometimes do that anyway.
3) My Speech and Debate Team
An impossibility for me would be not to include this group of students in a list of the experiences and moments that I teacher-appreciate. We recently had our end-of-the-year celebration, and such an event leads to a lot of reflecting.
The moments I want to remember most from this year and the moments that mean the absolute most to me from this year come from this team and the experiences we have had. Examples?
Playing Spike Ball during an online tournament, pushing through defeat and growing in spite of it, walking the halls after the same tournament in pure and undisputed awe of my team and the way they care and are reflective about each and every experience.
Going to In-and-Out on the way back from a tough and also wildly successful tournament.
Singing along to Taylor Swift in the car.
Standing in front of them passing out awards and giving speeches that I can only hope give meaning and celebrate what growth and memories have been created this year.
I can, in fact, go on. That, alone, I am appreciative of; there's a sense of pride in them that I can never put to words. Maybe I'll find the words someday.
4) My Happy Teaching Email Folder
I have a folder in my email (and a real-life version of all these random trinkets and papers hanging on my walls) that is full of messages students send me that purely make me happy.
I highly recommend making one of your own. It's nice for the tough days. Here are some highlights that I took screenshots of from my email:
Is this immature? Absolutely.
And I don't care.
Unfortunately, I get an email with Ed Sheeran in it fairly often. I save them all.
This is literally the most valuable Pokemon card that I own. It's not for sale.
That was the end of the conversation...
Don't worry, his dad didn't really leave him.
And, hahahah funny numbers.
These are, in many ways, the motivation for still continuing each day--just awaiting the next memory, the next laugh. There are more that I could share but won't.
Those are just for me.
5) This Blog.
I am humbled and honored to have a place to share these things. Am I rich and famous and in-demand as a writer? Not at all. Maybe someday when I write that book I've been thinking about and working on for so long.
Trust me, it's gonna be good. Can someone just donate some time to me for write it? I'll compensate you when it's a bestseller. That's a promise.
Anyway.
I love writing. I write literally every day, and I appreciate forums like this to begin conversations.
That's all.
6) Conversations with Colleagues Where I am Validated
In teaching, an essential aspect of the job is complaining and problem-solving with colleagues. I, unfortunately, do not feel like I have a lot of those colleagues to confide in. It's must be my off-putting personality and social inadequacies.
That said, a simple conversation that doesn't feel like a competition, a brag, a waste of time, something that could have been an email, or something I walk away from frustrated is a breath of fresh air.
Oftentimes (far too often, actually) I put on a fake face--my customer service voice, if you will.
I appreciate not needing to use the only skill that working at Target taught me: faking a smile to keep people from feeling uncomfortable.
7) Every Day Matters.
I have had a lot of moments lately that allow me to see the immense sense of purpose that comes with teaching. There is not a day, a moment, a class period, a phrase that goes unnoticed or unremembered.
This sense of purpose is the hardest and simultaneously best part of teaching. Nothing else in the world can compare to that. There's a teacher proverb of sorts that says that better than I do.
I appreciate the opportunity and privilege to matter.
I appreciate this grand sense of purpose even on the hard days--the days that I wish didn't matter.
I'm sure I could go on. In fact, I know I could. It's hard, though, to remember them all when you're stuck in the teaching trenches, fighting to matter in a system that makes it far too challenging.
But, we're not here for that conversation today...
What are the things that you Teacher-Appreciate?
Who are the teachers you appreciate?
Let's let those things help us finish off this school year; it all ends too quickly.
