Smile File: Poem from my student

This week is teacher appreciation week. Many people say thank you. Sometimes it feels real ... other times I just wish they would cut us some slack during the other 51 weeks. Teachers hear a lot of negative talk. And yet, we love our job ... I mean, I love my job!

I love teaching teens. I love the content I teach them ... math. Math is beautiful on so many levels! I love coming up with ideas to engage their thinking. And even when I'm fussing about their lack of listening or their lack of responsibility ... I still love working with students!

I also appreciate being appreciated ... love to hear simple thank you's!

Yesterday, a student brought me a poem she wrote. It made me smile ... and yes, it brings tears to my eyes as well. I wish you could see this student as she perseveres in class to get her work done. Some of her classmates finish quickly. But she doesn't let that distract her. She sticks with the process until she understands it and can produce solutions no matter the unit we are on. I love her stick-with-it-ness! But more than that ... I love that she has caught on that math is beautiful and that it is so much more than problems on a page, so much more than a page of homework or a grade in the dreaded gradeboook!



Read the rest of the poem here.