Dear Chickadees,
I have had the most
amazing honor given to me this past year: the chance to be your teacher. As I
accepted the position my mind began to fill with the things that I would teach
you, and I began to plan and prepare. I came to the school and saw the programs
that were in place to aid in your education, and I worked those into my plans
as well. I had dreams of the places we would go, the mountains we would climb,
the dragons we would slay, the unconquerable feats we would conquer, and I
would be there as your fearless teacher.
During the course of our adventures I quickly came to realize that more than me
being your teacher, you were mine.
From the moment we first met you have inspired me. Life has
dealt you some heavy blows, but every day you work through them and you don’t
let life put limits on you. You have willingly followed where my dreams have
taken us, and on more than one occasion your dreams have led the way. Together
we have accomplished so many great things!
As my students you have given so much to me, the greatest of
which is the heart of a teacher. I thought I knew what it meant to be a teacher
when I walked through the school doors, but now after a year with you I am
beginning to see and understand what I didn’t know before. Being a teacher is
more than using the skills they taught me in my college classes. It’s more than
having a lesson plan, and more than class management. Being a teacher is
knowing your students and what they need. It is loving your students in a way
that only a teacher can. It is celebrating the successes with you, big and
small. It is working through the frustrations of learning together. It is
learning and growing together. Being a teacher is being able to make mistakes
and laugh at myself. The university may have given me a piece of paper stating
that I am a teacher, but you made me
a teacher.
As the first class of my career you will forever hold a
special place in my heart. I will not forget the lessons you have taught me,
and I consider myself lucky that I get to continue to learn with you and from
you next year.
Until August,
Your Teacher
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