Educator Appreciation Week...

In the last 24 years of my life in the world of education whether as a student, teacher, or administrator, I have been blessed to meet and work with many wonderfully talented and dedicated educators. I first want to take a moment to give a shout out to a few of them who have influenced me and helped me recognize the type of educator I wanted to be:

• My kindergarten and 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Hopkins
• My 4th grade teacher Mrs. Templeton (although she will always be Miss Willingham to me)
• My 6th grade English teacher Mrs. McDaniel
• My former boss'/principals Mr. Bumgarner and Ms. Moree
• My cooperating teachers Mr. Price and Mr. Elder
• Former co-workers Josh Hartis, Bill Vinson, Angie Hickerson

These people have so many of the qualities that make them what I consider to be real educators: Confidence, Patience, Understanding, Dedication, Open-Mindedness, Passionate, Inspiring, Creative, and Flexible- just to name a few.

I want to thank each of these people for making a difference in my life as well as so many students throughout the years! We need more people just like you!

Now....I want to share a story from just yesterday...it was truly the perfect ending to the week....

After school yesterday, yes on a Friday afternoon when everyone is ready to go home, I spent an extra 3 hours at school having a conversation with a teacher in my building. It was such a great conversation. It made me leave the building proud to work with someone of his caliber. I truly believe he may be the most dedicated teacher I have ever met and I am proud to know him and proud that he works in my building! This teacher is so dedicated to his students and their success. He understands the importance of building relationships with students and how this directly connects to their success in school and life. This teacher puts in more hours than anyone I know. It is clear he knows his job is not one that is the standard 7:30 to 3:45, but it is a 24hrs a day 7 days a week kind of job. I do not know that there are many times during the day he is not thinking about what he can do to be better at his job and help the students more. When his students are in need of something, he finds a way to get it for them. When his students are having personal issues whether at school or at home, he finds them help and he never forgets them. Sometimes he can worry so much, I think he forgets about himself. No one is perfect, but he is what I consider an ideal teacher. I can only imagine if there were more like him.

I have found there are three types of teachers. Teachers like I have mentioned about above that are in it for the students, teachers who care but for their own agenda, and then those who just teach to have a job.
I find it unfortunate that the latter two exist, especially because there is no real money in education. I find the pay is more in gratification when we see success in the life of a student. If people are teaching for themselves or just for a job, I just don’t believe they are getting the gratification of student success. It is my experience these teachers do not have successful students and are not really happy.

It has become my goal as I grow as an administrator to help teachers to develop into ones like above as well as recruit more teachers like those who have influenced me.

Happy Educator Appreciation Week to my many friends and thank you for your dedication!

Onward and upward my friends and only 25 more days of school!