We received an urgent email at 9:00 this morning that there was a "very important 5 minute faculty meeting" today at 2:30. The last time we had such a message, we had lost a colleague. My thoughts started to swirl about what impending bad news we were going to receive.
My day is a very quick day because I teach straight through 1-6 and since I was helping students 7-9, I only gave it a couple more thoughts.
We all filed into the library and were told about upcoming events and then they presented the Liberty Mutual Teacher of the Month Award. To my shock, I won it. I never saw it coming and the words that my colleagues that nominated me said, brought me to tears. I've never been one to like the limelight. I am just fine functioning under the radar to make things happen.
So now you are thinking that I wrote this blog to brag about my award. That's not the case at all... well sort of..
I love that a community organization takes the time out to recognize educators. I feel like we are more often on the receiving end of criticism than recognition. We are parents, social workers, listeners, multi-taskers, educators, etc. I wish that more organizations would look at educators of all grade levels and see that as a group, we do more with less. We work well beyond our contracted day. We routinely spend our own money on class supplies. We give lunch money to those kids that are hungry. We bring in an extra coat for the student that doesn't have one. We go to conferences on our own dime and time. We challenge kids to think outside the box and make real world connections that make a difference in our communities. We spend Saturdays or Sundays working with kids who want to do community service but need an adult who will go with them. All of us are needed to raise a student. We need the support of the community as we do this.
I really want to thank Liberty Mutual for their time and effort in recognizing teachers in the community. It really means a lot.
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