This school year has been one for the record books. I started the year in my classroom with masks, PVC pipe, and plastic wrap. And as of this writing, we have 5 weeks to go. It’s been one, wild ride.

Since I am an Encore Computer teacher, I see every student throughout the year. At the end of March, I started working with my last group of 5th-grade students. I’ve only known this last group for about nine days since I only see them twice a week. It is a very diverse group of students and on day one, I knew immediately who the rascals were and who the sweethearts were.

This past Friday, it was a small class due to a few missing students and other students who had to go to a study hall to complete missing work. So I decided to not start a new lesson with them and have a “Free Day” with their iPads. It was a great day to bond with this new group of kiddos.

I was in the back of their classroom having another student teach me how to do an animated drawing on Keynote…which was so cool! After that, I was watching the kiddos when one of them, Brooke, came up to me to show me a Keynote presentation she created.

It was about me.

Now, keep in mind, I have only known her for about nine hours total in her 11 years of life. Here is her presentation taken as photos (her title slide is my blog title photo).

Little did Brooke know, her presentation came at a time in my life that I needed to read her words. This year has been a tough one for me personally. I have pretty much gone through the motions. I get to work at about 7 in the morning, do my job to the best of my abilities, then go home at 3:30. I haven’t seen or talked to many adults. And then I get home and have to swim through all of the anxiety and depression and melancholy that fills my home.

After reading her words, it really boosted my spirits. I left school that day proud of what I have done as a teacher and my heart was full. Months and months of pouring out my heart and laying it all out there for my students, co-workers, and family were filled with 5 slides of a presentation.

Brooke’s words have solidified my decision to keep teaching as long as I can. She helped me decide that what I am doing is a calling. For every tough day where I am thinking that teaching isn’t worth it, along comes Brooke and other students who care about me. One thing I have learned about my students…they wear their feelings on their sleeves. It is all worth it!