Dear Mr. Garrett,
I am doing it.
Thank you for being so patient as I try and figure out this new chapter in my life. I am pushing, stretching myself in a way I never have before. The outside of my comfort zone has now become the inside. The seemingly "impossible" situations have now become the typical. My mind/body runs a bajillion miles an hour--> always. I am learning and loving in a way I never have before. I was hired to teach students, but I believe they are the ones teaching me:
*Don't Judge, LOVE. Some of my students come to my every day class broken. The sadness and heartache some endure is unbelievable. I make many phone calls a week to parents/guardians-->some for exciting reasons and some...well, I need more insight to help their kids succeed. Twice, I have ended a call and nearly sobbed. To see the resiliency of a student through horrific events or the excitement (and sometimes disbelief) that a parent has when you tell them their child is excelling is awe-inspiring. With 300 students, it is so easy to label or judge--and oh how wrong we can be. (DON'T DO IT!) Some of my happiest moments involved seeing a student who does not try because they believe/were labeled as "not smart" or they "can not do something,"realize that they can; seeing them achieve one of the highest scores in the class or hearing them shout across the classroom, "Mrs. Garrett, I am smart!" Simple experiences, powerful truth.
*Be kind to yourself! Some days I come home, ecstatic. Other days, emotionally exhausted. One of those harder days, I came home worried about a couple of my students. I was beating myself up over how I could better reach them; what could I do to be a better teacher? I felt very discouraged trying to learn the swing of this first-year teacher thing, the hard way. Anyway, I started grading some of their projects when I stumbled across a note on the bottom of an assignment (depicted above ^^). Made me want to cry. Seeing that made every long night, and early morning I have dedicated on their behalf--> worth it. That note meant more to me than that student will ever know. It was a tender mercy from above. Great reminder: Be kind to yourself!
*Be You. It is easy to stick to the conventional ways of doing things BUT DON'T let conformity detract from who you are. Be you. Half the time my students probably think I am crazy but I am at my best and feel alive, when I am M-E! i.e. Using creativity to learn. Last week, I did a simulation on the Underground Railroad. I turned off the lights (except for my headlamp), made the students hide under their desks, played a track of ferocious dogs barking, and read a short poem/diary of a runaway slave. As I played a spiritual slave song, we "whispered" about the lives of slaves during the civil war. It was a riot!
*There's Time for Bathroom Breaks. yeah, Friday was one of those days where I had to go to the bathroom at 9:30am and did not have a chance to go until 4:00pm. (no bueno) But I discovered: I can talk on the phone, give a student a quiz, eat my lunch, and solve a first-degree offense all at once. I am usually juggling four or five balls at once and I drop the ball labeled, "ME." I have learned (and relearned) that I need to take care of myself, or I won't be able to take care of others.
*Laugh. Don't you love those moments where you catch yourself laughing, truly laughing--the deep, boisterous belly kind of laugh? Let those moments happen.
*P.s. Guess what, Mr. Garrett? I can be pretty stern, too. I think it surprised me more than my students.
Thank you, Love. Thank you for being patient with me. Thank you for doing the laundry and cooking delicious dinners last week. (For the others, Cafe Rio Tortilla Soup, we love you!) My heart feels it will burst every time I leave you, knowing you are the greatest thing to ever happen to me. I could not do this without your support. I am the luckiest.
Love, Mrs. Garrett
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