Pay it forward...

I am not sure if I have eluded to in before now, but I decided to leave the current high school that I teach at to one just north of here. The decision & opportunity were unexpected since the teacher at the other HS decided to take a position at a new high school at the city unexpectedly. After much thought, I decided to take the leap after establishing my program and myself here for just 3 years. My decision was sealed after realizing that this school was a hop, skip & jump away from Mason's NEW and first school - allowing me to visit and pick up easily, and also allowing us to share the same days off, inservice days, etc. In any case, when I finally decided to take the leap, I knew telling my administration, let alone students would be difficult...I was leaving with a program that has nearly tripled in size in the few years I have been here, I have met and established many new friends and had begun a journey into working on our schools redesign initiative with great success....why leave? Telling my students proved to be the hardest part..especially those who had chosen to take my second level class... after sharing my decision to leave for another school, students were incredibly kind and humbled me with their kind words. It is not often that you hear whether or not you have made any kind of difference in the life of a student. High school students by nature don't share that kind of personal information and, as I have discovered, may not even be aware of the impact a teacher has had until long after they have left the steps of their alma mater.
Last Friday in my first hour class, students presented me with a bouquet of flowers and 3 sealed cards....as I sat flabbergasted at this display of kindness I silently read each card. Every student in my class had written kind words of support. The last card included a $100 gift card to a local salon/spa......I was speechless, but not without tears. I knew that pulling this together took time, effort and thought. The gift itself was certainly generous and most appreciated....however, it was the words that I read and the knowledge of their time and effort in putting the surprise together that humbled me the most... In a profession that is often thankless, and where the hours you spend planning and preparing for a class to share information in hopes that they can use and apply it to their own lives go unnoticed, I realized that these students did notice and did care and made me feel like I had made a difference...
This experience has led me to pay it forward...I know how fantastic it felt to read and hear from my students and as most teachers know (at least those who teach high school), this opportunity is golden as they don't come around often. So I tracked down my high school art teacher and shared with her the impact she made on my life....receiving always feels good, but paying it forward felt even better....