Teacher Appreciation Week~ A great gift!

One of my favorite week's of the year is Teacher Appreciation Week. Again, I was incredibly spoiled from my group of second graders from flowers, candies, gift cards and love notes. I also got a love note from a former student. She friended me a while ago on Facebook and I love hearing about how my former students are doing. The note she wrote me made me cry. It was a tough week in general~ one little guy who has kept me up at night this year had a particularly rough week and this letter came just when I needed it to remind me that when I'm ready to quit- don't. It matters. If you can't read the above it says:

Happy teacher appreciate week! This might be random but what better time to reach out and tell you that even 17 years later you’re still my favorite teacher of all time. You took a 7 year old kid who was labeled “hard to handle,” “one of the difficult ones,” and “has some behavioral problems” and really cared about figuring out who she was. My mom and I still talk about how grateful we are that I had you in second grade because so many teachers considered me “difficult and bratty” but you really helped me understand a world that didn’t really make that much sense to me. Later in life I was diagnosed as bipolar and they said I showed a lot of symptoms in my early years, and I still appreciate the fact that you never made me feel like I was a “bad kid” when I was doing things and acting impulsively on things even I couldn’t always explain. I still remember once I get excited and accidentally threw a pencil sharpener in ____'s eye and everyone assumed it was on purpose. You told me to go in the hallway, and I was crying because I thought for sure I was going to get yelled at and be reminded that “I’m such a mean kid!” But instead you walked out into the hallway, told me you understand I’m excited and to just take a few moments to calm down then come back into the room when I feel like I’m ready. It made a huge difference in that moment! You gave me a love for school and learning, and almost 20 years later you are still impacting the kids you once taught! You’re amazing, Mrs. Doran!

I thanked her for the messaged and explained a little bit about what it going on with the little guy in my class and how this came at the perfect time. She wrote me:

I’m glad he has a teacher like you. I know he’s very confused by his own behavior. The reason I was so impacted by the situation with the pencil sharpener is because it was the first time in my 7 years where I finally felt like someone understood! I wasn't trying to hurt anyone, but no one really knew what it was like to have all this energy and emotion, only to have it take over so I would lose control and it would come out in the worst ways. I just remember feeling like “omg Mrs. Doran actually GETS it!!” And I can imagine one day he will feel something very similar when he looks back.