A little appreciation goes a long way

I don't often write about work, for a number of reasons, but I am just going to say this:  I had a rough school year.  One of the top three roughest years of my career, I would say.  There were a number of things that contributed to that, things that I don't feel are appropriate to blog about, things that cover a pretty broad spectrum.  But, in a conscious attempt to remain vague about two of the components, let's just say that: 1. Every now and then there is a student (or a couple of students) that I encounter that make me think, "My kid better never act like that" and 2. I think sometimes some people forget that teachers are just hard-working, regular people who have feelings, too.

Particularly because of the nature of this year, it meant so much to me to receive an e-mail from one of my students on Thursday, after the last day of school, that expressed his appreciation for me and my class and indicated that I had positively affected his life.  The fact that this was coming from a non-stellar student who I would not have expected to hear from again after the bell rang on his last day meant that much more.  Surprisingly, the letter served to erase much of the negativity that I had associated with the year and as a much needed positive note upon which to end.  And it made me think a bit.

The brief but meaningful and well-written e-mail made me realize how much our words can positively affect the day (or even the life) of another.  It may have taken five minutes to write that e-mail, but here I am still thinking about it days later.  Receiving that e-mail made me realize how important, and easy, it is to express appreciation and made me resolve to do it more often.  It doesn't require money, doesn't consume a large amount of time, doesn't even take a lot of effort.  But the positive effects are immeasurable and unpredictable.

Thinking about it now, I am really glad that I e-mailed Chick-Fil-A that day back in May about the employee who had treated me so well and was so kind that she brought tears to my eyes on a day when I was juggling too much, was stressed to near tears when an already stressful union meeting ran late and I couldn't get my kids in time, had lost my green receipt and had basically dumped the contents of my purse on the counter, and the kids had just knocked an entire display of brownies to the floor.

In a world where criticism and complaints are so much easier to come by than praise and appreciation, hopefully my feedback made her day as much as my student's did mine.