I was so thankful I didn’t have to speak on Thursday at the
luncheon. I couldn’t have spoken without
crying after watching Judy’s fabulous
annual staff DVD. I felt this
overwhelming feeling of appreciation.
Appreciation for all of you. For
Team Cooper. For the students and
families we serve every day.
We often hear the negative comments and they seem to be
louder than all the positive; the parent
who told Terry and I last week that we don’t know anything about child
psychology or child communication or the student that grumbled about how happy
she is to leave. Yet, we often have to
tell ourselves that is not the truth. We
have to know that for the majority of our students we do make a
difference. A 6th grade
parent came up to me at the incoming 5th grade Parent Information
Night and told me that she wanted to let us know how grateful she was for the
support we had given her daughter this year during a difficult time. Another
parent emailed Dr. Liepa to praise our staff and wrote, “As an employee in
another district, I have an even deeper understanding and admiration for their
professionalism and dedication to not only my child, but all the children of
LPS. If there was any way I thought my
district could lure them away from Livonia, I would be all for it!” I received another email last night from a
parent of a 6th grader who wrote, “Your understanding and guidance
made such a big difference for her this school year.”
There was an excellent article this week in the Detroit Free
Press by guest columnist Toulla Palazeti of Northville titled "Teachers Teach So Much More Than Just Curriculum." In describing her own children, she wrote, “Besides family, their teachers were the most
influential and important adults in their lives. Part of the person they have
become is because of their teachers. Even after teachers no longer recognize my
children’s faces or remember their names, their impression is still
evident.” I stayed up until 10:30 the
following night baking cookies for my children’s teachers. We’ve been blessed so far to have excellent
teachers for my girls so far. Tamsin had
the most amazing kindergarten teacher this year. In his letter I wrote. “Every school needs a
Mr. Davis and we’re so glad that Tamsin had you.” Ugh!
It makes me cry just thinking about it.
I
used to think that kindergarten was one of the most important grades to have a
great teacher because it’s a child’s first introduction to school. Yet, I used to love teaching 3rd
grade because much of the research (school to prison pipeline, etc) indicates
the importance of reading by third grade as an indicator for success and I
thought I could make this big difference.
Now, I see children whose 5th grade year turns around their
opinion of school and 6th graders who leave as confident students
ready to embark on the tough middle school years. Children deserve great teachers every
year. Not just the at-risk
students. Not just the students who are
good at school. Not just the girls or
boys or two parent families or divorced families. Every
student deserves a great teacher every year. It makes our job tough. There’s no slacking in teaching. There’s not a lot of room for bad days. It’s an important job and important jobs make
big differences.
We
love you guys. Have a wonderful,
terrific, fantastic summer. You deserve
it!
.JPG)
Teachers schedule for the
week of June 16, 2014: RELAX!!!
Terry and Sarah’s schedule
for the week of June 16, 2014
Monday:
Terry training Garfield staff in the 7 Habits
Sarah at Cooper
Tuesday:
Terry training Garfield staff in the 7 Habits
Sarah at Title meeting
8:00-11:00 then Sarah to Cooper
Wednesday:
Sarah and Terry last day at Cooper
Thursday:
Elementary Principal’s meeting 8:00-11:30
Sarah and Terry at Johnson to work on
Blogging presentation for August PD
Friday:
Sarah and Terry at Hayes
Lighthouse Meeting 8:00-11:00
VistaTech LEADS Luncheon 11:30
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