Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. In honor of this, I had the wonderful opportunity to submit a guest column in the Colorado Department of Education Newsletter. I thought I would share it here, as well. Thank you, teachers and staff, who work in schools.
Appreciating the Extra Mile in a Marathon Year
As the sun set on the summer of 2021, the excitement for this school year was palpable. Things were looking up. Students were returning in person, thrilled to be back in their beloved buildings and armed with hopes for new friendships and dynamic teachers.
As an elementary school teacher in St. Vrain Valley School District, I also felt the tingles of anticipation as I walked back into my classroom last fall. Hoping the crests of the COVID waves were in the rear-view mirror, I armored myself with optimism and a mask and looked forward to a new year. Though in many ways we prepared for a third year of pandemic-affected classrooms, we also fiercely hoped the bumps ahead would be smaller and more navigable.
We knew our students would need safe and predictable environments for their emotional and social needs to be addressed. We understood that student achievement gaps could be more visible and more measurable than ever before. We recognized that many of our colleagues, students, and families held on to very real anxiety about what in-person learning could mean for the health of their loved ones. And yet, the thread of doing right by children tied us all together.
What we did not foresee was the deluge of illness that surged through the fall and winter and made our children and families, and in many cases ourselves, sick. As quickly as we celebrated being back together again, we found ourselves face-to-screen with quarantined students.
We did not anticipate the shortage of substitute teachers and the strain this put on our buildings. Between managing a version of hybrid learning, helping to cover and care for colleagues, ensuring our students felt loved and safe, and taking care of ourselves and our own families, the school year quickly began to feel daunting again. What first felt so light began to feel dark.
Rachel Ortiz knows what it is like to rise to big challenges. She is a lead teacher in a multi-age autism-center classroom at our school, Longmont Estates Elementary. Coming back in person this year was of utmost importance to her and to her students. As illness spread, one of her hardships was trying to explain why the kids could not help with certain tasks or why they should not touch their faces, when her students wanted nothing more than human connections.
From this deep need came the birth of Joe to You Coffee. Rachel wanted to give her students the opportunity to greet others in the building while also delivering something sweet to her colleagues. As protocols relaxed, and things began to look up again, she and her students started a weekly coffee cart. Rather than letting light flicker back slowly, Rachel became the sun. Her kids made the coffees, hand-delivered them, and practiced communication skills while doing so. Teachers in our building grew to love this Friday tradition. Not only did we love our extra cups of joe, but we adored seeing the students smiling proudly as they handed over a warm cup with an even warmer, “Good morning!”
For Rachel, the extra dedication to this project was easy to give, in addition to the extra minutes, extra planning, extra money, patience, and reteaching. Watching her students grow confidence and connect with others was worth every bit.
Long before Rachel’s students were settling in and brewing coffee, Heather Conkright was in the school kitchen completing her daily safety checks and preparing 260 breakfasts. When the first meals were complete, she began to work on lunch service. Not only did she cook 250-275 lunches a day, but she also helped serve on the hot lunch line.
When she said goodbye to smiling faces with full bellies, she completed inventory, scrubbed dishes, and readied snacks for the after-school program. For her, the minutes of each school day were fast and full.
On good days, she had staff to help her and the right products available from the supply chain. Other days, she put in more hours and relied on her extensive food experience to make quick substitutions and menu changes for the building. Yet, Heather is passionate about what she does, so much in fact, that she highlighted the importance of school meals every chance she got. Our students were the lucky recipients of her fun and delicious ideas.
In October, Heather wanted to celebrate National School Lunch Week and organized an outdoor picnic. It was a beautiful scene to see hundreds of students on the school lawn, sharing a meal and a laugh or two in the Colorado sun. That day, Heather hid golden tickets underneath lunch trays that could be traded in for prizes. In March, she made individual breakfast bags with toys to highlight National School Breakfast Week. For kids, this simple gesture was like a salve on the heels of an unsure winter. Well into April, they continued to ask when golden tickets would be back again. Fueling hundreds of children every day is heroic enough a job; but to do that and more, is extraordinary.
Back in the classroom, Kelly Carlander, an extraordinary teacher at Fall River Elementary School in Longmont, lit her students’ excitement all year long. Mrs. Carlander’s second identity is Math Cheerleader, and her enthusiasm made a believer of my daughter, who was lucky enough to be one of her students this year. When I asked my daughter about her experience in class, she said Mrs. Carlander could not wait to do math with the kids each day and that she’d never seen anyone so excited for decimals before. She smiled as she told of her teacher’s laughter each day.
It wasn’t only numbers that drew Mrs. Carlander in, though. Earlier this year, her students read a book about a tarantula scientist. Inevitably, one of the kids announced how thrilling it would be to actually have a tarantula in class. As my daughter relayed this story to me, I imagined what my own reaction might be. I might have giggled a bit and said something like “Imagine that!” before moving on and hoping the idea would soon be forgotten.
Mrs. Carlander, however, giggled too, but then said one magic word: “Sure!” And so it was that the fourth graders wrote letters to their principal, proposed their class pet, persuaded him that they needed an arachnid crawling about, and told him how they might take proper care of it. Weeks later, Fluffy arrived, in all of his eight-legged glory, bringing fascination and pure joy to his new roommates.
Rachel, Heather, and Kelly are three of the many deeply wonderful people who are part of our public school system. They, too, felt the weight of a year with unexpected detours. They worried and calmed and stalled and progressed. They felt moments of I can’t and then found the strength for I can. They marched on, knowing that every cup of coffee, hot food tray, and even a furry spider made a difference to someone, and likely more, each day. In a time that felt like endless miles with unexpected hurdles, our teachers, cafeteria servers, nurses, custodians, counselors, and support staff ran on.
There were countless moments this year when I looked around and watched my colleagues with admiration as they elbow-bumped a student, put a Band-Aid on a knee, or wiped away a tear. These simple and gentle gestures are the trademarks of the people in our schools and have always existed. There were also moments of fear, when we needed to console one another, when we dialogued and hypothesized about what the next days or weeks would bring. Through it all, we stayed the course.
Take care of our children, love and respect them, teach them to the best of our abilities, stand in when others cannot. In this first week of May, we are intentional about the expressions of appreciation for these tremendous things we do. But in truth, May is only a fuzzy finish line that we will pause upon, retie our laces, and sprint on through. There is so much good we do together and so many miles to go.
Shine on, all of you who are so wholly dedicated to our schools. You are appreciated.
