All
the media about Teacher Appreciation week got me thinking about those 32 years I spent
in education. When challenged to remember “a” teacher who impacted my
life, memories came flooding back.
I had
some teachers as a child who made a difference in my life but the teachers I
worked with as an adult changed me forever.
I
began my career in rural Missouri; Miller, Missouri to be exact. A woman with
three years’ experience, Lillian
Andrade, was my first mentor. I lost track of her years ago.
I
spent three years in Sapulpa, Oklahoma as a traveling Speech/Language pathologist.
Ben Hazlett and Robert Price taught me what a principal should be. I didn’t
always like it at the time but looking back;
they knew what they were doing.
I
spent two years with the Early Childhood Coop of Creek and Okfuskee counties
traveling through the countryside bringing resources to teachers to deal with
special needs in rural Oklahoma. Every teacher in those country schools was phenomenal, choosing to educate that population.
In
1985, I joined the educators of Moore,
Oklahoma. I would spend thirty one years there teaching in four different
schools. Here is where I would hone my skills and learn more than college could
ever teach me. I won’t name names because I would forget someone and hate
myself for that. Suffice to say, I worked with far more great teachers than
mediocre ones. A few incidents that solidified that:
When teachers were hired a few hours before open house, (on more than
one occasion) we sprang into action. The
room was a Pinterest worthy classroom after eight seasoned teachers attacked it.
#amynickell #kaywilliams
Together, we navigated two major tornadoes
and a dozen minor ones. As we sheltered our students under desks and flattened
ourselves on top of them, we prayed. After
the 2013 tornado, we spent the summer supporting our colleagues who lost
everything in the devasted schools that were wiped off their foundations. We cried with the teachers who buried students
as a result. We shared tons of teacher-made resources to restock their
scattered files. #ginajantzen #avawilhelm
Our
buildings shook the morning of April 19, 1995. Numerous students were affected
as our police and EMT”s and firefighters streamed to the scene of the Murrah
building bombing. My forward thinking principal pressed anyone not in a
classroom into the office to check every student’s record. In those days,
parent employment was listed on the forms, and
we made sure no student went home to an empty house. When one of our
teachers hadn’t heard from her husband by noon,
we covered her class but refused to let her go home to an empty house
also! #cherylfields #kelleystrong
#debbiearato
Five of
us were subpoenaed in a custody battle and traveled together to experience our
first testimony as “expert” witnesses. It was an unforgettable experience and one
that impacted me forever. Law prevents me from sharing details but as an eight
year old was led out by a CASA to testify against his biological father, the
adoptive father stopped him at the door, threw his arms around him and
said, “You are my son, no court changes
that.” Not a dry eye in the room. The
ex-con bio father and his girlfriend in
her lace dress with NOTHING under it did
not get custody. I am friends with the family to this day. #amynickell
#carolyates #tammyharrison
Our
entire faculty was shaken when a former student murdered a classmate as
initiation into a gang. In jail, he
requested to see two of our teachers. One of them was called to testify. She
did so bolstered by the prayers of her team.
In
1997, we collapsed into each other when
we faced the murder of three of our students, siblings, at the hand of their
father. Nothing, nothing, prepares you to navigate that. We
were led by a principal who epitomized courage and wisdom. Together we healed each
other and our remaining students. #suziepierce
#kaywilliams #carolanderson #amynickell
I was doubly blessed because I worked with
the teachers who taught my children. There are no gifts, cards or mementos that
can convey appreciation to these incredible human beings. I am a culmination of
all they taught me and our shared experiences. I owe a debt I can never repay.
Thank
you. Thank you, Faculty and Admins
of Briarwood, Fisher, Kingsgate, Red Oak.
Tell a colleague how much you appreciate them
today.
