For the "Underappreciated" During Quarantine
I adapted and expanded this from an earlier Facebook post that I wrote for my personal wall. I have added to it to explain a little bit more of what's been on my mind and what I've done about it since the original post.
I've gone back and forth (and back again) for most of the quarantine. It's been so distressing trying to establish any kind of normalcy to the anything-but-normal state that we're living in right now. But I've been reflecting a lot this year on understanding people's needs. Of course, this has been a journey for me as a newlywed, but I think there are applications beyond that most intimate of relationships. I think when we seek to understand what makes one another "tick", even in a professional sense, truly magnificent things can result.
That said, I'm undeniably a words of affirmation love language girl. My second highest-ranked love language is quality time, but it's just something about those words... especially when they're WRITTEN. When I can READ what I mean to someone, or something that someone thinks of me, it lifts me up. On the flip side, when I read something destructive (or hear it spoken or insinuated about me), I just cannot shake it. It blackens my heart and stomps out any greatness I may feel within.
While education has become a somewhat thankless profession in many ways, some teaching positions feel more isolated than others. If you don't have a department or grade level, you often get left out, and whether intentionally or not, it still makes you feel lonely and unappreciated. I've seen that with my own eyes during this pandemic especially. It's easy to see what many of the content/core teachers are doing because they are at the forefront, but a lot of us resource/specialty teachers have been ignored. And that's weighed really heavy on me. Because we may, in fact, be doing the bulk share of the work just because of the specialty/niche in which we find ourselves. (And that doesn't mean I'm hating on other teachers; it just means I recognize that specialty fields often deal with things that core teachers may not have to experience, and vice versa to be completely fair.)
So I started thinking what I could do about that. I saw that some of us on the periphery are doing this teaching during quarantine thing with no public thanks or “shout outs”. And from being in the trenches, so to speak, on the daily, I know that even when we aren’t in quarantine, a lot of teachers in supportive and collaborative roles usually don’t get that “glory”. I decided, especially in light of Teacher Appreciation Week, that I wanted to shout out to the teachers who I think need that special recognition. I have been posting and tagging away each night, and it feels so good to give others what I have so desired! Somehow it fills that need in myself too!
Even so, I want to remind all those teachers in similar positions that your worth isn’t determined by someone else’s observation or recognition of it. That's hard to remember when you're a words of affirmation girl like myself. But your worth is actually determined by how you’re still doing this every day because it’s the right thing to do. It shows in how much you love your students. It shows in the sacrifices you’re making and the unprecedented stresses you’re overcoming. So if you’re still chipping away and no one is telling you what an asset you are to your school... I will tell you that you are changing the lives of your kids! You are an asset to them! Don’t give up!
And for now, I think I'm going to keep giving those words of affirmation to others around me, even beyond Teacher Appreciation Week. How wonderfully could I grow and blossom by watering others' spirits and helping them see just how valuable they are! That's the kind of teacher and woman I want to be.
I've gone back and forth (and back again) for most of the quarantine. It's been so distressing trying to establish any kind of normalcy to the anything-but-normal state that we're living in right now. But I've been reflecting a lot this year on understanding people's needs. Of course, this has been a journey for me as a newlywed, but I think there are applications beyond that most intimate of relationships. I think when we seek to understand what makes one another "tick", even in a professional sense, truly magnificent things can result.
That said, I'm undeniably a words of affirmation love language girl. My second highest-ranked love language is quality time, but it's just something about those words... especially when they're WRITTEN. When I can READ what I mean to someone, or something that someone thinks of me, it lifts me up. On the flip side, when I read something destructive (or hear it spoken or insinuated about me), I just cannot shake it. It blackens my heart and stomps out any greatness I may feel within.
While education has become a somewhat thankless profession in many ways, some teaching positions feel more isolated than others. If you don't have a department or grade level, you often get left out, and whether intentionally or not, it still makes you feel lonely and unappreciated. I've seen that with my own eyes during this pandemic especially. It's easy to see what many of the content/core teachers are doing because they are at the forefront, but a lot of us resource/specialty teachers have been ignored. And that's weighed really heavy on me. Because we may, in fact, be doing the bulk share of the work just because of the specialty/niche in which we find ourselves. (And that doesn't mean I'm hating on other teachers; it just means I recognize that specialty fields often deal with things that core teachers may not have to experience, and vice versa to be completely fair.)
So I started thinking what I could do about that. I saw that some of us on the periphery are doing this teaching during quarantine thing with no public thanks or “shout outs”. And from being in the trenches, so to speak, on the daily, I know that even when we aren’t in quarantine, a lot of teachers in supportive and collaborative roles usually don’t get that “glory”. I decided, especially in light of Teacher Appreciation Week, that I wanted to shout out to the teachers who I think need that special recognition. I have been posting and tagging away each night, and it feels so good to give others what I have so desired! Somehow it fills that need in myself too!
Even so, I want to remind all those teachers in similar positions that your worth isn’t determined by someone else’s observation or recognition of it. That's hard to remember when you're a words of affirmation girl like myself. But your worth is actually determined by how you’re still doing this every day because it’s the right thing to do. It shows in how much you love your students. It shows in the sacrifices you’re making and the unprecedented stresses you’re overcoming. So if you’re still chipping away and no one is telling you what an asset you are to your school... I will tell you that you are changing the lives of your kids! You are an asset to them! Don’t give up!
And for now, I think I'm going to keep giving those words of affirmation to others around me, even beyond Teacher Appreciation Week. How wonderfully could I grow and blossom by watering others' spirits and helping them see just how valuable they are! That's the kind of teacher and woman I want to be.
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