My amazing friend, Emily, was announced today as the Teacher of the Year at our great school!!! This little award has been teasing Emily for three years, and finally, it became hers!!
I must give a little history so that when I'm 87 I can look back and think this sounds vaguely familiar!!
Almost 3 years ago, Alex was finishing up his 3rd grade year. It had been a pretty rough year for him. He was of age to begin the dreaded TAKS test and he really didn't enjoy it or the preparation it took to do well on it. By the end of this year, he felt sure he would be happy flipping burgers at McDonalds and thought the money would be pretty well too! Why did he need to continue school, he asked?? This was horrifying to me, as a teacher!! What a failure I was!!
Talking with friends about who our options were for fourth grade teachers, I became a little worried. I really didn't know any of the teachers so I didn't really feel good about choosing any one of them to teach Alex. I knew it was a pivotal year for him, as his love of education was waning. It was also his last year of elementary school and I wanted it to be a good one.
Enter my friend, P, who said she would recommend a certain Miss Estes. When I inquired as to why, she said she really didn't know but she had heard she was a good teacher. What she did know about her was that she actually played with the kids at recess instead of talking to other teachers, and she actually ate with her kids at lunch...in the cafeteria, at the same tables with her kids. Those two things told me she was obviously child-centered, or she was crazy!!
With much hesitation (not knowing whether it was better to pick someone you really didn't know, or let the chips fall where they may without my intervention), I asked Alex's 3rd grade teacher to make sure Alex ended up with someone named Miss Estes....someone who I could not have even picked out of a lineup!!
Summer came, as did a little anxiety about the new school year. Talking further with P, it was revealed that Miss Estes, on whom we had now put all our hopes and dreams, had just finished her FIRST year of teaching. I said to P, "I'm sorry....WHAT???" She confirmed that this amazing teacher now had one year under her belt!!! I thought that it was just her first year at Blue Haze...that she'd taught a few years somewhere else!! But, no!!
Now, I have nothing against first year teachers . . . I was there once upon a time, but teaching is definitely a job that gets better with a little seasoning!!
True panic started to set in!! Big year for Alex...not so experienced teacher...what am I doing?? I finally decided to let it go and see where it went!!
Alex got his postcard in the mail showing him whose class he was in and he was pumped!! Evidently, Miss Estes was the teacher to have, and he felt like he had won the jackpot!! He was even more excited when he learned his good friend, Jordan, was in class with him. We went to Meet the Teacher night before school started and met the amazing Miss Estes. (Now, I could pick her out of a lineup, if needed!!)
I remember clearly that one of the first things she told Alex was that he could pick the desk that he wanted to sit at. Choosing your own seat??? It was too good to be true!! Of course, he and his good buddies all sat together. What a great year it was going to be!!
And what a great year it was! Immediately, I could tell that this young teacher had it all together. Her take home folder was organized unbelievably and very thorough. She quickly began doing little things to encourage Alex and let him know how happy she was that he was in her class. If my memory is correct, within the first 6 weeks of school, she had done at least 1 over the top thing a week to develop a relationship with Alex. These weren't simple gestures either. They were hand written notes to him, coming to his ball games, notes to Scott and I, telling us what a great kid Alex was, and on and on. I remember thinking, "Are you for real??" What teacher takes the time to do this kind of above and beyond stuff for 22 kids?? I would learn that the answer to that was Miss Estes.
As the year went on, a relationship grew and Alex's whole attitude about school changed. He had gone from grudgingly getting his work done to doing it well and making great grades. He enjoyed school, even had fun!! It was a crazy concept!! He didn't want to miss anything!
That January, Emily joined us at Upward and coached a team of girls. The kids got to hang out with her a lot and really had a great time. She began coming to our church and got totally involved. The kids were thinking it was the coolest thing ever for their super cool teacher to go to their church too!
Fast forward a little over 2 years, and Emily has become a huge part of my life. She's the friend that hasn't been around forever, but it seems like she has! She makes my life so much easier on a regular basis and has done so much to enrich my life!! She keeps my kids regularly and actually acts like she likes it!! She even lets them spend the night!!
She started out as, in my mind, a first year teacher, and has become an amazing friend!! We have had many a deep conversation (deep thinking is a gift we both possess) and many a meal at Chipotle!! We have spend many hours shopping and most of those times came home empty-handed!! She is such a fun person to be around and a great person to do life with.
She is still the amazing teacher and it has been fun this year to do it all over again with Parker. She's still eating lunch with those kids and still playing football at recess. She's still dressing up in her crazy costumes (I heard all about Tick Tock this week!) and doing cool experiments to help kids learn the most they can. She gives so much of her time and her money to the kids, but most of all, she gives herself. That's why she's such a great Teacher of the Year!!
Here are some fun pics I found to commemorate this special day!! :)
(They have nothing to do with teaching, but who cares really??)
Emily, you definitely deserve this special award!! You are truly an amazing teacher and an amazing friend, as well!!
2 comments:
Wow, thanks Kristy! What a fun trip down memory lane. I thought I'd give the longest comment ever for what must be the longest post ever!! :)
My first memory of you was at Meet the Teacher Night when you told me Alex really wanted to be in my class because I was the teacher that always showed movies! I remember being worried that he was going to be very disappointed in the first 175 days of school!! :)
Seriously, thanks for being such an amazing friend and allowing me to be a part of your kids' lives.
ditto!!
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