Appreciation

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." -Henry Adams

Today, May 4, is Teacher Appreciation Day. Did you know that? I had no idea that Congress voted for this special day way back in 1980. I was teaching in 1980. I don't remember being appreciated. Oops...that sounds terrible, doesn't it?

As a teacher, many of my students have shown their appreciation in many, many touching ways. I've had yearbooks dedicated to me, special letters of recognition, as well as untold notes and messages from students and parents (and even from a few grandparents!). But what I don't remember is celebrating one special day where I was shown appreciation. Until...

Until I resumed teaching in the late 1990's. I was in the dark. I had no earthly idea that in the 15 years that I had been absent from the world of teaching, that teacher's all across our country waited in eager anticipation for May 4. I had no idea that during the first week of May, PTA's went into overdrive. They sent out a "secret" letter to all parents. Every day of the week was something special. One day, every student was asked to bring one flower. Another day, each child was asked to bring the teacher a special snack. On and on it continued, until the culmination on Friday. On that day we were given a special gift. Pretty nice! And pretty overwhelming! Most students didn't bring just one flower. By 9 a.m. on the designated flower day, I would often have 27 floral bouquets and not enough vases! My room looked and smelled like a funeral parlor. Same thing on "Snack Day". I really could have opened my own concession stand and made a healthy profit from all the candy I received.

While this was all very nice, I think I would feel more appreciated if it came randomly and from the heart. Like maybe a parent just tapping me on the shoulder at a basketball game and letting me know that their son or daughter suddenly understood verbs or finally found the joy of reading.

Today I went to work. No flowers. No cards. Not even one candy bar. But C did his homework all by himself even though he didn't want to! And O wrote out 12 sentences correctly. And when it was time to start the school day and I asked them to get out their Bible books, C lit up and said, "Yeah!!"

They didn't gush all over me about what a great teacher I am...they didn't have to...just to see their little eyes light up over what they had achieved with last night's homework and the pure joy they had over beginning a new day...for this teacher, that was all the appreciation I needed!

Thanks C. Thanks O and L and M. Because of students like you, I had the BEST Teacher Appreciation Day ever!!!!!