Notes from public school - day 120

This morning, at 7:45 a.m., a student from across the hall walked into my classroom over to my teaching table.

She handed me a sheet of notebook paper neatly folded into eighths.

I unfolded the note.

It was a sketch for a math teacher.

I love it, especially the drawing of a smiling calculator.

“Abby,” I smiled, “This means so much to me.”

It did.

This year I’m teaching 4th grade math for the first time.

It’s hard.

But teachers are called to do hard things.

In the middle of the doing of the hard thing, we need someone to pat us on our backs and say, “You can do it. I believe in you. I’m with you.”

Teachers need encouragement.

We all need encouragement.

Mine came from a drawing and a smile by a 10-year-old on a weary Friday morning in public school.

Now I want to pass it along to you.

If I could draw a picture on a piece of notebook paper of the hard thing you have to do, and fold it into eighths, and hand it to you with a smile...I would.

You can do it. I believe in you. I’m with you.