Teacher Pride

In the life of a teacher one of the greatest rewards is to see the students they work with or have worked with be successful. It is like a parent seeing their son or daughter make the winning shot to a basketball game, or a son or daughter take a bow after a wonderful piano recital. A smile forms and a heart is full to bursting. That is how I felt this week on two different occasions.

First, I got the chance to see one of my former second graders and high school helpers come back into town. The occasion was not the best. Her mother had passed away and she was home for the activities surrounding that event. Still, I got to spend a small amount of time finding out how her life is now progressing. That is when the pride came into play. She is working in a large city in Texas at a large company. She is in a leadership position handling it all with ease and grace. She is married with a great job and new house. Oh, yes, and a dog! I am so proud of how far she has come and what all she has done with her life. I know her mother was very proud of her and as Mom #2, I am proud, too!

The next event that brought on my pride was when our district asked Mindy Hoffar to come and do a Beginning Writers Workshop for our schools. I am privileged to help her when she does this. We had 18 teachers from all over the district for two of the three sessions this week. We do most of the sessions as workshops with us leading, but for an hour each day we take the teachers into classrooms to actually see writing workshop in process. Mindy usually leads one and I lead another held at the same times...primary and upper elementary. This time we had two teachers who lead their own students doing what they always do. This time they did the teaching in front of about 7 -8 teachers. I was so proud of these to ladies! They not only went through the paces of workshop with ease, they also lead a debriefing session afterward. They handled the questions and just shared the passion they have for writing and kids. Those visiting teachers went back to their classrooms with new excitement and enthusiasm. I was so proud of my two coworkers.

So, whatever field you are blessed to be working, I hope you can find the pride in your work and what you do. There is no greater reward than to know what you are doing in life is making a difference in so many lives!