Slice of Life Day 20: What is YOUR Legacy?

When speaking about his grandfather, Ray Bradbury says, "It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”  

I have been thinking about legacy lately.  This quote from Ray Bradbury makes me stop and think.  As I am leaving a career of 43 years, I wonder what my legacy will be.  I like the way he says, 'so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away.'

When I leave in June, will there be change that I made when I take my hands away? I know I brought the pure writer's workshop to many teachers.  I know I have touched the future as I work on the new writing curriculum with the Common Core State Standards for grades K-5. Still, did I do enough touching?

I remember last year working with some 8th grade students with their reading and writing. It was wonderful watching someone who thought she hated reading get caught up in a book and continue to ask me questions about the main character. I'll never forget when secbond grade Eric looked up at his teacher and me, his coach, and said, "I'm not just Eric the Artist any more, now I'm Eric the writer." 

I will continue for the next 48 days to think about the legacy I am leaving when I leave teaching. But even more than that, I want to start thinking about the legacy I will leave when my days are completely done!