A Glimpse. Teachers Are Normal People. Connections.

#aglimpse #teachersarenormalpeople #connections

One day in 4K. 

Normal people.  At some point during recess the conversation turned to going home.  I happened

to mention I was going home after school.  The resounding reply was that I did not have a house.  As is often the case, my friends were under the impression that I lived at school and they also usually thought it was with the other teachers in our room.  I assured them that I did indeed have a house.  They were not convinced. How can I have a house if I do not have a mom and dad?  Much to their dismay, I also assured them that I had a mom and dad.  They were not buying it. Their defense? I am not a kid. Luckily the voice of reason, and there is always one in every class, stepped in and stated (waving his arms for emphasis) "Guys, teachers are normal people.  They are just normal." I rest my case. Teachers are normal people.  Normal people who happen to have an extraordinary set of skills, endless patience, a passion for the profession, and years of tidbits to keep them smiling to infinity and beyond. Teachers. We are normal people. 

A glimpse. But I thought your goal was to advocate, to educate, to inform. Yes, it is, but along the way, here and there, we will share a glimpse into our worlds. Our professional worlds, our personal worlds. Why? Because connections matter. Because relationships matter. Because our worlds are often intertwined. Because we are educators and so much more. Our profession alone does not define us. Shared experiences, shared success, shared failures, shared mistakes, shared greatness.  Sharing. It matters. We do it every day in our classrooms. We build a community, before we build our learners. It is how we grow, it is how we learn, it is how we build self assurance. As one follower stated, we are two imperfectly perfect teachers. We are so much better when we are allowed, when we are confident enough, when we share our imperfect selves. We are fumbling our way through this journey with a goal to stay true to ourselves. To not be anything more, anything less. Normal. We are just normal people on a journey with a side of glimpse. It matters.

So that journey takes us to July. July.  We meet again, my friend.  Oftentimes, it is not until July that we feel refreshed, that we can leave behind bits of the year before, that we have settled into the routine that is summer. We may travel, we may gather, we may tackle a project, we may feel a bit of pressure to get more done, to do more, you know before summer is over. Before all that is the start to a new year starts to quietly seep into our thoughts. As we slide into the middle of July, a reminder, we are normal people. People with families, with homes, with friends, with heartbreak, with celebrations, with struggles, with hope. July. Take time to enjoy the normal. Take the time to do nothing.  And when the calendar says July 31st? Well, when you are an educator, you know what comes after July 31st right?! July 32nd.