An Attitude of Gratitude

MORE WRITING THAN USUAL>>>I KNOW, PLEASE READ

As I prepared to write this week for this blog post a few conversations that I had last Friday/Saturday at our homecoming football game/dance kept coming to mind.  I know typically I give you some kind of PD related article or video to take a look at and some questions to make you think a bit.  This week, I am just going to write about those conversations because you need to hear them.

Conversation 1
This conversation was with a parent of a 9th grader.  The parent stopped me as I was walking to the field house to change a paper towel role.  She (the parent) went on to say that her student has come home this year with a bit of a different outlook in relation to seeking out extra help at school.  I don't say this to say that in other grades that teachers/staff don't offer or give extra help.  The parent relayed to me that she appreciated what was being done/said to her student at school to make them feel comfortable enough to seek out the help they need.  Maybe this change in approach came because of maturation or some other outside factor but I know all of you had a big part to play in it.  Thank you for what you are doing for this student.

Conversation 2
Because of homecoming, I get to talk to many recent graduates.  If it is a student that went to college, I always ask something along the lines of "Is it hard..."  On THREE different occasion over the weekend, I had recent graduates say the same thing to me.  They were grateful for the work that their junior/senior teachers had done with them.  They were grateful for being pushed but also cared for.

Conversation 3
Parent of an 11th grader cornered me as I was helping in the concession stand on Friday.  She quietly said "You know you have some pretty amazing people that work for you?"  I smiled and look at her and shook my head with pride.  That is all she said and I have no idea what happened for her to say that.  It just happened.

Conversation 4
While talking to a recent graduate, I asked the question I mentioned above... "Is college hard?"  She responded by saying that some classes are but that she is getting help.  Interested I asked...how do they structure extra help at your college.  She responded by saying NO..."I am emailing (she mentioned two of our teachers) to have them help me..."  It hit me after this conversation just how often this happens to all of you.  Thank you.

I realize you all don't hear these types of things all the time.  Because these three or four conversations were still with me here on Sunday, I thought it was important to tell you about them.

Thank you for what you do at PHHS.