Skip to main content

The Smell of Pies & Pipes


 

If you are(were) a "This Is Us" fan then you will likely get the reference in the title. If you are not, where have you been? Anyway last night was the series finale (raise your hand if you weren't ready)!


 So this post isn't about social media, but since it's my blog I hope you will indulge me. 

One of the characters made reference to not remembering their grandparents, he said all he remembered of them was the smell of pies and pipes. This resonated with me because today is the last day of school. Let me tell you folks this one was a doozy! Probably one of the hardest (if not the hardest) of my 27 year career. I am so ready to be done, I am so ready to be still. But, then this quote. This quote reminded me that 5, 10, or 20 years from now nobody will remember if you did that last assignment or if they got that B they wanted. If this year was difficult for me, it was also difficult for my kids.

 I want to be remembered as the teacher who showed grace. I want my students to remember the times that we laughed at the stupid stuff. I want them to remember that fun project, or that cool game. I want them to remember the small stuff, the smell of pipes and pies. I want the to know that I loved them and that I don't care one iota if they passed the FSA. The smell of pipes and pies is the goal! Hang on to the little things. 

Comments

  1. First of all, I don't really know how to move forward knowing that last night was the last This Is Us episode ever.
    Second, I love the title of your blog. I only made four years of teaching and I will never forget the exhaustion.
    Third, congratulations on the completion of the school year. That is huge.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think Big!!!

  Full transparency I thought this produsage assignment would be a piece of cake. After all this is what I do. I have written thousands of lesson plans over the past 27 years. What actually happened, I got a really good wake up call about how teaching and instructional design are not the same. Let me explain. Good teachers think small. They write lessons that are tailor made for the students who are sitting in front of them that year (or class period). The idea of knowing your kids and creating an assignment that is tailor made for them is the goal. The ideal.  When I started the produsage assignment I approached it from this direction. What will the sixth graders that I have in my class this year be able to do? What do I want to accomplish with them? What I have come to realize that instructional designers think BIG ! It's not about what you need for just a few kids who you see everyday. Instructional designers create lessons on a much larger scale. The lessons you create nee...

Thing That Make You Go HMMM!!

  Okay so I admit I lost it this week! If you read my previous blog, you know what I'm talking about, if you didn't you should check it out (warning there is cursing and stupidity involved). It's a good read. Really Okay so I have been watching the news to see what other counties are going to do. Mostly I have been watching to see what OCPS is going to do. I want to see if I am going to have to run screaming from the building because I have gone completely mad. But anyway, no word on OCPS but I really like what two counties have decided to do.  The premise of this whole idea of parental rights in school involves parents wanting to control what their student learns. If I am being honest, that doesn't really bother me. I think parents should be involved. My issue is when the will of the few gets imposed on the many. That isn't fair. Two counties in Florida have found a creative way to stop this from happening. Polk county has six books that have been challenged. Paren...

Three Is More Than One

  Umm, excuse me Governor Desantis but last year you said that you had a issue with standardized testing. I was like okay, this is a cause that I can get behind. The way we are currently using standardized test in the education system is abhorrent. In many cases these tests are the only measure of student and teacher success. Standardized tests don't allow us to celebrate the small wins. If a student read 2 books last year and 15 books this year, that's a win. If you learned to write your name in cursive, that's a win. If you know how to divide or understand fractions that's a win. I don't care what the test says. When did kids become standardized. My oldest daughter could read before she went to kindergarten. Her sister learned to read in kindergarten. My son could read when he was four. They all turned out just fine. Kids are not standardized.  I was excited to hear that we were doing away with the FSA. As an educator, I felt like someone was finally paying attent...