Dear colleague,
To me, education's not all about relationships. It's all about learning, growing, deepening — that's why folks send their students to school. We spend gazillions on public education around the world so folks can learn. Us teachers pour our souls into this work so students can become who they're meant to be, so they can experience the cosmoses of the disciplines, so they can become the kinds of folks who flourish long-term.
Yet amidst that grand mission, relationships develop. Relationships are one of many happy byproducts of any great endeavor. They are not education's point, but they are amongst its sweetest fruits.
So today colleague, as I enjoy a bit of the rest and sustenance that our Thanksgiving break provides here in the States, I'm thankful that we get to do a kind of work that is good all by itself and that produces, as a happy byproduct, things like relationships that are also good all by themselves. As I let my mind wander to the faces of the folks I've worked with this year — students, colleagues in my school, colleagues in other places — it is a good feeling.
My encouragement today is that, if you're doing a Thanksgiving kind of thing, you might take some moments to reflect on those faces who have meant something to you. On our last school day this week, I guided my students toward this kind of reflection via this writing warm-up prompt:
Who is a person in your life that you're like, “You know what? I'm low-key thankful for that person.” (Instead of thinking about the person you're MOST thankful for, think about those low-key thankfuls.)
My goal was to get students practicing the skill of seeing relationships and gratitude on the gradient they can exist on. There are those folks we're most thankful for, yes — but then there are those lesser developed relationships that still cast a glow and create a warmth in our lives.
Thank you, colleague, for your readership this fall. I look forward to sharing more with you as the year goes on. But today I'm content to rest and enjoy small moments and notice small gratitudes.
Best,
DSJR
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