Teacher Appreciation, a Saturday morning reflection
This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week, with Tuesday being Teacher Appreciation Day. In our school we got reaffirmed by the PTSA, the administration, and the students. We had a very nice luncheon on Tuesday. We got goodies each of the first few days. Yesterday we received little blue papers with handwritten notes from students. For me, the last was interesting because I received a number from some of my more problematic students in my last period, those to whom I have to be somewhat firm about behavior and other things - it is almost as if they are thanking me because I draw and enforce boundaries, which is something that perhaps they do not get from other adults.
As I sit in my Starbucks, breakfast was paid for by a 'thanks, teacher!" Starbucks card. Each of us receive such a card with $10 on it. With well over $100, that does show some appreciation.
That this week comes at the beginning of May is timely. Advanced Placement exams have begun, our seniors leave our classes soon, our other students are winding down. This can be a difficult and draining time, and it is nice that as a community we take taime to acknowledge and thank those who most make it work, the classroom teachers.
But I think I want to suggest some different ways of showing appreciation for teachers. Thus I ask you to keep reading.
Charles Blow on Romney: "Mean Boys"
As I sit in my Starbucks, breakfast was paid for by a 'thanks, teacher!" Starbucks card. Each of us receive such a card with $10 on it. With well over $100, that does show some appreciation.
That this week comes at the beginning of May is timely. Advanced Placement exams have begun, our seniors leave our classes soon, our other students are winding down. This can be a difficult and draining time, and it is nice that as a community we take taime to acknowledge and thank those who most make it work, the classroom teachers.
But I think I want to suggest some different ways of showing appreciation for teachers. Thus I ask you to keep reading.
Charles Blow on Romney: "Mean Boys"
That’s the image that emerged of a high-school-aged Mitt Romney from a Washington Post article this week that recounted allegations of his mean and even violent behavior as a prep school student in Michigan.And that's the lead paragraph of Mean Boys, Blow's New York Times column on the Washington Postblockbuster story on Romney's time at Cranbrook School, and of even greater importance, Mitt's response to the story's assertions.Blow recounts the facts of Romney's behavior as listed in the story - the"atta girl" shouted out when a closeted gay student spoke, the walking of the seeing impaired teacher into a door, and of course the assault on John Lauber. He quotes Romney's response to the story, and then writes:
There is so much wrong with Romney’s response that I hardly know where to start.But let’s start here: If the haircutting incident happened as described, it’s not a prank or hijinks or even simple bullying. It’s an assault.There are third, fourth and fifth points as well, the last of which is
Second, honorable men don’t chuckle at cruelty.
Lastly, this would have been an amazing teaching moment about the impact of bullying if Romney had seized it. That is what a real leader would have done. That is what we would expect any adult to do.Please keep reading.