Thanksgiving time is here, and I’m ready to dive into my favorite foods and desserts. As far as I’m concerned, the holiday isn’t complete without green bean casserole and a dark chocolate pecan pie!
While I’m always thankful for delicious meals at this time of year, I am even more thankful for friends and family. For me and for many others involved in education and teaching, family includes the students and parents that make up such a large part of our lives. In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, here is a list of things to be thankful for when it comes to teaching and guiding students, which we have collected from educators and administrators.
I hope you enjoy these 25 tidings of thankfulness. Some are fun, some are touching, and some are similar, but all will put a smile on your face. Here’s what we are thankful for this year:
- Hardworking teachers who are willing to do whatever it takes for their kids.
- Eyes that light up with success.
- Helping mold young adults into environmentally literate citizens who can choose to make sustainable choices in their future.
- Laughing with my students.
- Hug attacks from former students in the hallways, recess, and lunch room.
- Planning the perfect lesson—and it going exactly the way I imagined it would!
- Seeing my students around town or at games.
- Amazing co-workers who challenge and extend my ideas.
- Administration that supports and encourages growth.
- Experiencing students’ excitement when we work on collaborative projects, meet with other schools across the country, and partake in video conference sessions with museums and organizations.
- Learning something new with technology.
- Seeing my students engaged with all the new technology in the classroom and having fun as they learn.
- Summer break!
- Having students who are excited about learning.
- Having classroom technology that rocks.
- Getting planning time during the school day.
- Finding money in the budget for purchasing needs AND wants.
- Having a candy stash in my desk, which is shared with students on good days, and is just for me on bad days.
- Having the opportunity to empower my students with lifelong learning skills.
- Being around students who laugh at my jokes.
- Being able to do many different things in one day.
- Being challenged to figure out how I’m going to do a project when there is no money. It makes me VERY creative!
- Meeting and sharing stories about the little ones with caring parents.
- Hearing students giggle.
- Experiencing joy!
Hopefully you enjoyed reading this list as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Please comment below with your notes of thanks, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
