First off, HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK, Teacher!!! It feels SO good to be recognized and appreciated, doesn’t it?!
To be honest, Distance Learning has made me feel super discouraged lately. I catch myself putting forth so much effort trying to connect with my students during this time and hoping they grasp a little information along the way. I’ve tried connecting through Google Form check-ins…fun quizzes…Padlet…yet I still only get ⅓ish of my students to hop onto a Google Meet for me to stare at their mic crossed out and their first name initial…or a weird image they made as their gmail icon. (You know what I’m talking about, right?!?!)
Last week after feeling discouraged, I found myself wishing for some encouragement from my students. An email…private comment on Google classroom…SOMETHING to show me that they noticed my effort and appreciated me. I wanted to feel like a good teacher and felt in that moment, that I needed external validation from my students to trust that I was doing a good job….I was having a moment, Ok?!?! LOL
The reason for this blog post is to highlight that yes, it feels really good to receive notes from students expressing how much they love us. I’m sure we all know those teachers who ALWAYS receive those random notes and goodies from their students expressing how much they love and appreciate them.…and you know what….I’m NOT one of those teachers…..
I RARELY receive little notes or letters from students expressing how much they love me or my class and I always wondered what I was doing wrong. In the past, I would take this personally and BELIEVE that I must not be that good.
However, I’m here to tell you that……..YOU DON’T NEED NOTES FROM STUDENTS TO VALIDATE THAT YOU’RE A GOOD TEACHER AND APPRECIATED!!!! Let me repeat, you don’t need to receive notes from students (and then post a picture of it on Instagram) to BE A GOOD TEACHER!! Have confidence in the AWESOME-NESS you bring into your classroom and know that no one does it like YOU!
You ARE a good teacher and you don’t need a note from a 7 year old, or a 12 year old, or a 17 year old to validate that.
Therefore, next time your colleague, or best friend, or someone you follow on Instagram, or one of your friends on Facebook receives a note from a student and you don’t…remember this blog post and continue being the AWESOME teacher that you are!
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XOXO,
Thank you so much for this. I often feel the very same way…what am I doing wrong? This post truly made me feel better!