Another Year Has Passed

This was originally a post on Facebook and Google+, but multiple people have urged me to put it on my blog.  This worked for me because a short post such as this is better than no post because I have been so busy closing out this year.

So in line with less typing, more posting...

To all those educators out there...Thank you for everything you do. Another school year has passed and you have affected so many students. The hours you put in planning, correcting, guiding, modeling, and teaching so much more than just curriculum pays in ways you can only hope to see later down the road in life.

Your "job" is exhausting because it is so important. Educators are the most important members of any society. They are the ones who impart valuable knowledge and skills, offer a stable environment for students who have nowhere else, and help students believe in themselves.

Educators not only light the fire within students, but fan the flame and care for it so that it may continue to grow as time passes. Educators literally hold the future of individual human beings in their hands. They have the power to build confidence or destroy it; instill curiosity or downplay it; and continue a love for learning or extinguish that flame.

I have met the spectrum of educators, but have been blessed enough to know and realize that almost all of them care so much that they work extremely hard to instill the passion of education into the lives of children so that it is inscribed in their hearts forever. They often do this at the expense of their own health and loved ones because they realize the enormity of their task and relish in the successful application of their practice. Your influence is enormous and rings through the generations.

This video brought it home for me; made it concrete.  Please take the time to listen to the words. Every one of us has that child inside; the one who is anxious to learn, experience, and grow.  But that child needs the guidance of someone to explain that everything is going to be alright.  Educators are those people.

Continue to find that child in every student you lead. Continue to influence future generations.  Continue to do what you do best…teach.

Thank you for another year.