Teaching Is The Future

Have you seen Gradeable's terrific tribute to teachers? 

Teaching is ... how would you complete that?

As I wander the hallways this morning and check in on our teachers and their classrooms, my heart soars with delight.

The students have grown by leaps and bounds.

And the teachers teach on.

It's not just academics they're covering, either.

They're teaching all of the time.

Modeling.

Advocating.

Nurturing.

Loving.

Unifying with a kindness.

Validating with a nod.

Smiling with eyes that look right at a child

and say "You can do it" and "I love you"

even when I don't like how you're behaving.

A teacher gets a package of looseleaf paper each year, 
some with lines (wide and college ruled), 
some without, and,

like a paperclip, she finds a way to bond them as one

and hold them together while they write their stories.

Then that same teacher who loved and cared for those blank sheets

that she worked so hard to unify and complete

has to be courageous enough to let them go out 

into the world and apply the skills they've acquired.

To write another chapter.

And then to help others do the same.

And so it goes ... a teacher is love.

And that's a big job.

Thank you, teachers, for your investment in our future

and for providing a safe haven for our students as they write their stories.