Teacher Appreciation Week: Principal says ‘unseen’ efforts by teachers most meaningful

May 4, 2020 | 12:10 am

Updated May 3, 2020 | 11:34 pm

Editor’s note: In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week 2020, we are running a series of stories highlighting a handful of educators in Daviess County. While we realize that every teacher deserves recognition, especially during these trying times, we’re able to tell just a few of their stories this week with the help from their school principals.

Day 1: We’re kicking things off with a letter from Laura Cecil, principal at Sorgho Elementary School, who tells a story that sums up what this week is truly about.

When I first received the email about the Owensboro Times recognizing teachers, what first came to mind was the time a time a teacher in my building made a special moment for a student I myself was touched by, so I responded with that idea.

Then I started thinking some more, and I could think of many more moments with lots of different teachers and staff. They were definitely “above-and-beyond” moments not in their job description. As I thought some more, the moment that brought me the most tears of joy would never be deemed a special moment to most.

To most, it would look like the “normal” school day we all now crave so much. But to me, it was pure elation, appreciation and amazement. To most, it is an unseen “normal day,” but to me it was one of the most meaningful — and what teachers and staff should be appreciated for the most.

It was March 9, and I was super busy with trying to get in all our standard evaluation processes before spring break. I had enjoyed being in a teacher’s classroom for her observation for about 45 minutes, and she and her assistant had done an excellent job, as well as the kids. Everyone was “on it” and you could see the learning taking place.

I had been really busy with longer observations, so my normal run of walk-throughs where I spend 10-15 minutes in a couple of classrooms a few times a week had been off schedule.

I decided before I returned to my office to do my paperwork, I would do a “peek-in” at every part of the school, just glancing through windows.

I walked back to the kindergarten wing first. Every room had an educator teaching important phonemic awareness skills to read and the kids are on it, gesturing and mimicking the teacher to show the students know and are building on the skills. Every assistant was working one-on-one with a student on a skill deficit that has been determined by the teacher.

Loved it. Walked on.

In the first-grade rooms, teachers and assistants had students in small groups, each again working on specific things deemed from formative assessments you could tell were thought out and planned. It was awesome.

I passed the lunchroom and looked through the glass windows. Cafeteria workers were unloading and reloading breakfast in the classroom, and some were doing the heavy lifting of loaded pots and pans for lunch prep, and the custodian was finishing out the morning garbage to go do his playground safety inspection.

Everyone was in motion, all for the betterment of the kids.

On to second grade, interventions, preschool, and a few special education resource classrooms. Again, overjoyed. Every adult was with kids, and everyone was focused on what a child needs to learn and grow.

A special education behavior coach was walking kids to their next class, coaching hallway behaviors. It was a great day — I was loving these few moments and realizing what it is doing for the kids.

I headed towards the intermediate hallway and passed the gym. There was chaos of combined music and PE time for roller skating. The kids were loving it, and the teachers and volunteers were, too —  healthy fun in full swing.

The intermediate hallway proved to be more of the same. Every classroom had teachers and assistants in full motion. You could just see them giving their 110% to help the kids grow.

As I headed back to my office “hole” for paperwork, I was enjoying one of the most proud moments of my career. The momentum and work of everyone here had me overjoyed and brought me to tears.

I remember thinking, “I wish everyone could see this!”

These are the days I appreciate my staff most for — their tireless and continued efforts to reach kids in learning and leading. To most it goes unseen and appears normal. To me they are making a difference in the world. These seemingly “normal” moments are what impacts learning most.

Then there are the other things — the above and beyond the normal-day things that we all will always remember.

Like the teacher who buys a birthday present of a Spider-Man T-shirt and pajamas for a child who has been abandoned by his mom and had no birthday party (he wore the pajamas to school almost every day for a month!).

Or the staff who stayed after school to let two students “trick-or-treat” in our classrooms knowing it would be the only way they would get the experience. Or the teachers and staff who took a pie in the face from students to raise money for childhood cancer. Or the aide who took it upon herself to organize a change drive for a student who needs a new liver at our school.

Or the health aide who tutors in our outreach program who saw a need for a food drive for the community our kids live in when their food pantry was low. Or the teacher who went to every Dollar General when COVID-19 hit to buy peanut butter and crackers for our weekend food bags so kids won’t go hungry during a pandemic. Or the teachers who organized the “Wildcat Wavers” parades to cheer students on in this crisis.

There are many more.

But to me, teacher and staff appreciation is more about the tireless work they do every day to teach and reach a child. You may have gotten a little more glimpse of that when school invaded homes and parents became the bridge and sometimes “the sub teacher.”

It is in those moments — those day-to-day grit-and-grind efforts to reach children — we should appreciate the most.

Educators and support staff are truly amazing, and it is an honor to work with them every day.  This week, please appreciate their above-and-beyond things, but most of all their often “unseen” work — the things we take for granted in our “normal.”

I certainly can’t wait for the joy of its return.

May 4, 2020 | 12:10 am

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