My daughter’s first grade teacher, Ms. McGuirk, is amazing. She remotely teaches about 25 little ones a day–meeting in two whole class meetings and multiple small group meetings and also preparing quality activities to teach and motivate each child asynchronously. She welcomes them with music and lets them chat with each other using their lovely attempts at phonetic spelling and overuse of emojis.
Every day, I come down for lunch from my own remote teaching setup just around the time my daughter’s afternoon class begins. Ms. McGuirk starts each afternoon session with a sharing of gratitude. Each child–full of wiggles and toothless smiles–shares something they are grateful for. Every day. Sometimes they also ask for a classmate to be their friend. It usually goes like this. “I’m grateful for my mom, my dad, my friend, Rosie, and my dog, Fido, and… I was wondering if Aaron wants to be my friend.” (Their peers always say, “Yes!”) It couldn’t be sweeter.
After I heard this over a few days, I realized that my daughter and many others say just about the same thing everyday. Despite the repetition, Ms. McGuirk keeps having them share. I know that she, for sure, is aware of the volumes of things that she wants/needs to teach these students this year. Even though the sharing of gratitude may feel like an expendable part of her instruction, Ms. McGuirk persists in having them share about their gratitude on a daily basis. I applaud her! She clearly values some very important things for her students: routine, voice, connection, and social-emotional learning. This year, more than ever, children need to find the good in the world. They need to say it and hear it out loud. We adults need the same.
My previous few blogs have shared worries and complaints. This has been a tough year of teaching and life in general. Inspired by Ms. McGuirk and by my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, I thought I would try my hand at sharing what makes me thankful. Here it goes….
I’m grateful for…
- my husband, Scott, who keeps this ship (our family) afloat during this pandemic and always.
- my children, who repeatedly remind me of the basic joys and wonders of life–animals, imagination, huggles, and more.
- my dog, Evie, who loves me despite all of my flaws and even after I stopped giving her bits of turkey.
- my middle school students, who are positive and ready to learn every day and who show more resilience than I probably would have given them credit for before all of this began.
- my students’ parents, who have offered me much grace and support this year.
- my teaching colleagues. (I miss them. I know they are doing good work.)
- my neighbors–it’s so good to talk to these friends face-to-face (6-10 feet away).
- my larger family and friends, who reach out right when I need it and bring smiles to our whole family from afar.
- my church family–you are as beautiful in the virtual world as you are in person.
- Kate Bowler, whose podcast, “Everything Happens,” lifts me up and reminds me that it’s okay to be imperfectly human. (It is the only way to be human.)
- my big comfy chair that holds me for 8-10 hours a day and the lapdesk and laptop that make up my simple teaching station.
- my job, for providing income, challenge, purpose, and more.
- food and shelter, never to be taken for granted.
- the brilliant people out there who are providing care, relief, and solutions during this pandemic.
- Ms. McGuirk and Mr. Neiswander–you are exactly the teachers my children need this year.
I’ll stop there for now, but the list could continue. What is on your gratitude list?
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