A note of gratitude for our teacher leaders
Curated U.S. Education Policy News for May 8, 2021
When I was a child I spent a lot of time with my grandmother, a retired third grade teacher, running errands or going to lunch. We were always stopped by someone who said, “Hi Mrs. Toribio! Do you remember me?” Sure enough, my grandmother would rattle off their name and a sweet fact about them. I admired her for being such an important person in so many lives across our community. I admired my grandfather, too, who was a math teacher at our community college and most notably took so much pleasure in teaching that he built and opened a restaurant called The Study). In my eyes, they were super heroes.
Many years later when my grandmother moved out of her home we found two boxes of photos: one was labeled with a big sticker “Kids” and the other was labeled “Mom”. My sister and I assumed the one labeled “Kids” was going to contain pictures of her children — but it didn’t— it was filled with her students’ writing, poems, hand drawn pictures, and math assignments. She considered each of her students one of her kids and she treasured their ideas, reflections, and contributions to the world. All of her life my grandmother has been selfless and centered the strength of her community — she did this most as a teacher in our small town. I feel grateful for being witness to the impact she had many years later.
The exposure my sister and I had to our grandparents as educators inspired us to become teachers ourselves. My first year teaching my grandmother sent me a decades old book of poems and suggested that I read one per day to my class — she always welcomed her students into class with poetry and music on her guitar. But, my sister is by far the most patient, skilled, and empathetic teacher I have ever met in my life. My heart is so full seeing her expand our grandparents’ service in her own role. While I typically study and write about the academic and policy sides of education, this week I am writing this note of gratitude to the selfless teacher leaders who develop the future leaders of our country.
Our teachers are super heroes and super human; our teachers deserve every moment of gratitude that we can give. The grace, resiliency, and care that our educators have shown this year is evidence that our systems must:
spend a little more time rebuilding relationships anchored in trust,
focus on instructional expertise and professional learning,
and empower our teachers to be the skillful compassionate leaders they are — both within and outside of the classroom.
So, thank you to Mrs. Slack, my third grade teacher who would let me stay in from recess to grade papers with her because I really did not like being outside with other kids. Thank you to Mr. Greif who casted me in the most fitting role in our sixth grade play: Ima Starr (yes, I’m not kidding). Thank you to Mr. Conrad who provided me a safe place to be myself in junior high. As we close out this week of loving teachers: take a moment and think about those teachers and influencers who served your community by loving and caring for you and consider how you can be that for someone else.