Love Notes

"A good teacher is like a candle~ it consumes itself to light the way for others."

~ Unknown

I took these pictures with my cellie because I forgot my camera at home today. I didn't expect to use it, but several moments ago, I was just realizing that I don't have any ideas on what to post today, and that it is 6:00 pm on a Friday afternoon, and that I am STILL at the school without a hope of getting out of here anytime soon. Sad, I know. It has been a crazy week and an even crazier Friday! We had meetings before school and after school that just overwhelm a teacher more than ever... testing kids way too much and results that make you want to cry yourself to sleep for a month. You see that even the kids who, as a teacher, you see every single day and know they are on or above grade level, are considered below grade level based on the results of ONE test (even though they are my highest overall students). And, let's not even talk about how the test was scored. I would like to have a word with the people who came up with that idea. Makes absolutely no sense at all.

Well, anyways, in the midst of all this angst, I look up at the wall behind my desk and I see some love notes and I realize... WHO CARES?!?! I know the kids. I know that one darn test does not need to put a label across their foreheads,  and I know that if they get a note in their mailbox, then mom and dad come in with confused looks, that I have plenty of other assessments to show them where their child is really performing. I know. I KNOW! I am their teacher. I hear them read every single day.

I see these love notes and I realize that what matters is not a test. What matters, and what makes a difference, is people. Loving mentors who make it their mission to help these children learn. The test will not matter in 5 years or 10 years or 50 years from now, but what will matter is what they remember about their teacher who stayed at the school till 6:00 on a Friday evening, because she loved them...and because she needed to blog. <3

 A.Rogers Jan.2011

JJ loves to draw. He brings me a picture at least once a week. I am always in the picture. What do you think? Does it look like me?

A.Rogers Jan.2011

Simple, yet thoughtful. She had no reason to bring me a note. Not my birthday. Not Teacher Appreciation Week. She just wanted to say, "Thank You!"