Today was a bit of a rollercoaster. The day started with a staff breakfast and celebrating a coworker’s birthday. First period was filled with lots of banter and 80’s music thanks to the two yahoos below:

There were fifteen other desks in the room, but where did they want to work on their 20 Time project? Mine, of course. They crack me up.

During this class, I received an email saying one of my students was out with a doctor’s note until May 7th. She’s one I’ve taught before, so I happened to have her number and sent her a quick text asking if she was okay. By the time 2nd period rolled around, I received a follow-up email telling me the student had been in a car accident where the car had rolled and then caught fire. Her mother and two siblings were okay, but she was still being treated at the hospital. I’m telling myself she’ll be fine, but I haven’t gotten any updates to prove it.

Fast forward to third period. My sweet friend and coworker covered the beginning of my class so I could go sit with my “school daughter” in algebra. Apparently, this week she’s had trouble staying awake long enough to complete her work. Let’s just say she didn’t have any trouble today! 🙂 At the end of the day, she stopped by my room to tell me she’d done all of her work and to show me a picture of a guy with boyfriend potential. “He’s going to meet my mom, and he knows he has to meet you, too.” Wednesday evening he noticed the background photo on her phone – the two of us from an interview at school earlier that day – to which he responded, “Your mom is white? I didn’t know you were adopted!” K took the time to explain AFTER laughing at him for about five minutes. This was one of my finest moments as an educator. 🙂

My conference period is at the end of the day, so I was semi-relaxing and catching up on emails when I received this text:

I taught J eleven years ago – my 2nd year of teaching. She struggled with depression and cutting and family issues during high school and later dealt with substance abuse. Today she is a 27-year-old, real-life GROWN UP, and I couldn’t be prouder of her. I am so honored that she asked me to be there when she tells her story.

Teaching is hard. The days are often long and difficult, and we teachers sometimes feel like what we’re doing isn’t making a bit of difference. Today was a good reminder of how it does.