Note to Self...

So, for the most part Facebook can be a vapid hole of wasted time (and I've wasted plenty on it).  However, today it did something pretty great.  I happened to run across a friend's page w/ a post from my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Galloway on it.  Up until that point, it had been a pretty rough day in class w/ my kids not getting some stuff and not working as hard as I'd prefer them to.  When I saw that post, my mood took a sharp upturn as I immediately flashed back to my younger days and began recalling all the good memories I have from my earliest days of public education.

I'll save you individual stories, but I will tell you this.  I chose to be an educator based on the fact that, as far as I'm concerned, a lot of the best people I've ever known were educators.  Mrs. Galloway was one such teacher.  What was it that set her apart?  In her classroom, I look back and know that all of us in that room were loved.  I'm sure most days we were an incredible handful and I'm sure she had her rough days just like mine now, but my permanent picture of Mrs. Galloway is her sporting an infectious smile. This smile may have been a result of her ability to always envision 3:00 pm or June and July, but I doubt it.  I really believe we were important to her and she wanted us to know it.  This is most likely why the only degree I have or ever will have posted in my classroom is the Kindergarten Diploma she issued me back in the mid-1980's.  Side Note: I do also have my certificate that says I can count from 1-10, but I only post that because that's where my mastery of math stops.

Got me thinking...will my kids have that memory of me when they're 31 and randomly finding me on some arbitrary social networking site?  Will they think, "Mr. Love cared deeply about me and was happy just to have me around."  Or, will they simply recall me ranting about tardies, dumb decisions, and late work while all the time trying to paint myself as having the "patience of Job" (and most likely then griping because nobody in the class recognized that allusion).

I didn't just watch Dead Poets Society, Freedom Writers, Stand and Deliver, or Lethal Weapon 4 (which one of these does not belong), so this isn't a cinematically-inspired crusade to change lives...it's simpler than that.  I just need to remember:

• some kids don't feel important...to anyone.
• all kids deserve to be important...to someone.
• I am someone.

Thanks, Facebook.

Effective Score: 10, but only on the account that I had some the best teachers to ever grace a classroom.