On the tough days…
I’ve been thinking about teachers on the tough days. You know those days. The days when you can barely lift your hand to high five kids on the way out (which may be a good thing because you don’t really want to give them high fives anyway). When you’re not sure you can make it to your car and drag yourself into the house. The days when your energy is zapped and the thought of making a bowl of cereal for dinner is overwhelming. When you feel like you’ve failed. Failed at the instruction. Failed at the paperwork. Failed your students.
Those days.
It seems like there are more of those days as the infatuation with standardized tests increases. I want to wave a wand and make the system of public education make sense. I want teachers to be revered in our society. I want them to feel like heroes.
Because they are. You are.
And then we have those days.
On those days, I want you to know…
You are good enough.
It is enough to smile when writing is attempted.
It is enough to clean the scrape and put a band aid on it.
It is enough to talk about the book that you couldn’t wait to share today.
It is enough to share your writing with your students.
It is enough to sit next to a student and listen to his words.
It is enough to laugh at a joke.
It is enough to nod your understanding.
You are enough. Just enough.
Those days will come. It is inevitable.
The important thing is our response to those days.
I shared this with my colleagues before I even left a reply!
How do you do that Ruth? You know just when to post thoughtful thinking and advice. This is speaking to me loud and clear, but I love your last line: The important thing is our response to those days. Yes, yes, yes, and thank you!
I hope you didn’t just have one of ‘those’ days.
Thank you for these reminders; teachers don’t always get that support, especially from themselves.
YOU were just enough for me today & I thank you!!! What you wrote today shows how the power of words really is enough! So beautifully put, so masterfully put together! I especiall LOVED that you want to wave a wand to make education make sense, teachers to feel revered in our society, I want them to feel like heroes. Thank you, those lines were just ENOUGH for me to today to pick up my head & continue! This week in particular, teacher bashing has been so high in the media in my town, my state, this was perfect timing! Thanks!
I needed this today, after coming back to my room to find out just how badly my students behaved with the supply teacher. It’s a tough day. I haven’t gone home yet, so it’s still fresh. I know that tonight I will have a very large cup of tea, work on my report cards, think and stew about what else I can do to help my students become responsible caring young people. The tomorrow I will wake up and come back in and do it all again, thinking “maybe today is the day it will all come together”. Teachers really are eternal optimists. Every day is a new day.
Oh yes, yesterday was one of those days. Thanks for this wonderful and well-written reminder.
Oh yes, those days. Thank you for your honesty – it’s easier to cope with them when you know that other teachers feel exactly the same way some days.
Thank you it is one of those weeks, mid year testing, report cards and the stress of families in high poverty. The room is rocking and rolling and we are all just looking for calm waters. I love your good enough poem – I think it is just want my students also need to hear tomorrow morning. Thanks for your words and your idea. A “you are good enough” poem outside the door is just what this group of young sailors may need as we step into testing. Let’s hope it give us some calm sailing for a few days.
Thank you so much! It was definitely one of those energy-zapped days, and your words felt like a soft pillow to lay my brain on. Thank you for your beautiful, encouraging words!
This was just what I needed to read today! I plan on sharing this with my collegues tomorrow when we have lunch. You always know how to encourage us all! Thanks!
Thank you! Your message was just what I needed to hear today. It was one of those days when it seemed nothing much was accomplished with the students. You reminded me that the “little things” have more power than I realize. Keep writing!
These are not easy words to let in. Good enough is so difficult to believe sometimes. There is so much to be done!
But it sure helps to hear your voice, and all the voices in the comments, validating my feelings and nudging me to set down the weight I am carrying, sit back, and soak in the goodness of what is working, what is being done.
You are so right, Ruth. I wrote a post in December about being ‘good enough’ because of a quote I loved in the book Journey, by Patricia Maclachlan: ”Perfect!” Grandfather almost spit out the word. His face softened. “What is perfect? Journey, a thing doesn’t have to be perfect to be fine. That goes for a picture. That goes for life.” He paused. “Things can be good enough.” Teachers are so wonderful to everyone else, & so hard on themselves. There was a wonderful piece about a teacher who reached out to a high school drop out tonight on the NBC news, an accolade to those wonderful teachers everywhere!
Wow, Ruth, you have no idea how much I needed this today. Thanks so much for posting it, I shared it with the teachers on my team.
Thanks for your feedback and comments. I’m glad my words gave you a moment to just breathe.
Thanks for the constant encouragement— thanks for reminding that it’s okay to have one of those days.
Thank you for recognizing the little things that make a difference. I love the craft you used to accent the point. I so agree with the. Omens that have been left. I especially liked the book reference Linda left.
Thank you for your words. Those are re-posting words. And I love that the words can be used not only with teaching but in LIFE! Thank you.