In celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week, and to commemorate my FINAL YEAR OF TEACHING, here are my stats:
🍎 23 Years Teaching
🏫 3 Elementary Schools
🇺🇸 1 School District
👩🏼🏫 Grades taught: 1st (5 yrs), K-5 Reading Intervention (18 yrs)
🍎 Principals: 5
✈️ States Taught: VA
👧 Number of Students Impacted: over 450
🍎 Certification: N,K-4
🎓 Highest Degree Earned: BS in Early Childhood Education
🏆 RETIREMENT DATE: May 9, 2025
Love it. But like all statistical summaries, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Over the past 18 years, all at River’s Edge Elementary, Pam has had the privilege of teaching students from all over the world, kids who spoke a ton of different languages, none of them English. There were kids from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Honduras, Syria, Egypt, the Sudan and many others. She taught Christians, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims. There were what seemed like insurmountable obstacles in the path of learning from attention deficit problems to emotional issues, not to mention some kids who didn’t even know the letters of the alphabet when she got them. But each and every year she would somehow make measurable progress with them. She would come home each evening telling me stories about her students. Some were hilarious stories of crazy things that would happen when trying to explain American english to some second-grader from Kurdistan. Other stories were disturbing, others sad and overwhelming. But Pam always had something good to say about every kid she taught, of course—some more than others.
But the one thing that can’t be quantified with statistics is the following story. It’s what made my wife such an amazing teacher and such a valuable asset to her school.
This particular story was from several years ago. River’s Edge was overcrowded that year so Pam’s classroom was in a trailer behind the school. I showed up in the afternoon, after her last class was finished to bring her something from Starbucks. It was about 2 o’clock or so. This was back when the front office people would let me deliver treats directly to her classroom. Today—because of the horror and shame of school shootings in America—there are metal detectors everywhere and I am not allowed free access in the building. Anyway, on that day I walked back behind the school to her trailer and quietly opened the door to her classroom. It was then that I saw my wife sitting on the denim loveseat she had bought for her room as a reading sofa for her students. She would use it as a “reward” for good work, if you did well you could read on the reading sofa! There she was laid back in the loveseat next to a little boy reading a book. I could see the backs of their heads, Pam’s blond hair and the little boy’s Afro. It was a kid from the Sudan who was a hot mess, with reading, learning and family troubles. Pam often spoke of her frustration with him. But there he was, his head resting on Pam’s shoulder as she read. I stood there at the door and watched them for a minute, listening to their interaction. There were occasional giggles from the boy. I remember thinking…This is why she’s so effective as an interventionist…she loves them, and they know it. For the last 18 years, in twenty-five minute encounters, she has helped over 400 kids discover the magic of reading, changing the trajectory of their lives forever. She has also taught them that they are inherently valuable and worthy of love. I can’t think of more important work. Can You?
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