We are in every school. You jostle past us, brush against us on your way to class, to the staff room, to the gym. We are heroes and villains, champions and participants, stars and stage hands unnoticed in frames.
We wear dated uniforms and glasses too big for our faces. Our hairstyles are out of the times but we grin, soaked in sweat from a victory that has always just happened. Do you see us? We played hard like you do. We gave everything to coaching just like you do.
We are in graduation composites; vice principals and principals looking stern and officious in the centre. Row upon row of us look out from the walls as you make your way to lunch or the library. We line this great hall, legions of us, watching to see that you carry on what we started.
We are the band pictures. We have music teacher faces, pinched in permanent winces from hearing songs in the wrong key. We are drama pictures and if you look at the back, you can see the drama teacher poking her head out from behind the curtain as we take roses and final bows. Lean in and listen to the applause that is still ringing.
And now I am here, only in these pictures. Schools do not lend themselves to long term memory. It will only be a semester or two after I am gone and I will be forgotten. True, there will be a teacher or a colleague who will remember but really only a few pictures on a wall will remain.
It is a strange thing to imagine yourself as only a photo on a wall. Generations of students and teachers will walk by me and I will not be able to wave or call out. I won't be able to point to what I did here or what others did for me or what we did together.
Maybe you will stop on your way. Maybe on your way to parent night or in the quiet of the hall on your longest day. Maybe you will stop after a game or a performance and see the beauty you are creating. If you stop and see us behind the glass of these frames we will see you. We cheer you on, encourage you in the most important work in the world.
I hope you stop and see me. Lean in close and listen too. You are becoming part of a larger picture. You are building citizens, you are building a community, a country, a democracy. You are part of something beautiful and profound. Just promise, on the rare occasion, that you will stop and give a wink to those of us behind the glass.
I have many teachers who are not just pictures behind glass, but people who are alive in my memory. I especially recall, with gratitude, the great ones. We've never met but from what Chris Emanuel has said and from what I have read, I think you will be remembered as one of the great ones.
ReplyDeleteDan, a few weeks back I had an opportunity to tell a story about how I got to where I am. Of the eight significant things I reflected on in my career journey, I referenced a pretty big moment in my life that happened in one of your classes. In 1992, you shared a story about a student writing a one word poem: “Muffin.” You used the story to describe the power of metaphor and symbolism. The creativity and passion that you brought to life through your story that rainy morning in the fall of 1992 influenced the path I took through University and has provided me with an amazing lifelong gift: a curiosity for learning. Someone once said a picture is worth a thousand words, however it has been my personal experience that your impact as a teacher and a leader in York Region’s high-school community is worth immensely more. All the best and good luck with your transition to retirement!
ReplyDeleteDan,
ReplyDeleteJust read the above blog in the OECTA magazine -- great stuff. I wanted to let you know that as an English teacher/basketball coach heading into my last year of teaching, I was thinking about also writing a blog about my last year and what I have learned from being in school for 48 years (since 1970).
I can only hope that my effort will be half as good as yours. Thank you for sharing these blog posts and teaching from the heart.
All the best in retirement, Andy Shaw
(shawbball@gmail.com --- teachfromtheheart.com)
ust read the above blog in the OECTA magazine -- great stuff. I wanted to let you know that as an English teacher/basketball coach heading into my last year of teaching, I was thinking about also writing a blog about my last year and what I have learned from being in school for 48 years (since 1970).
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