Know Thy Impact

A colleague and I were chatting the other day about how it can be challenging for central office staff like coaches and consultants to be able to see the impact our work has on educators, administrators and students.  As a classroom teacher I think it seemed easier to gauge our impact, especially since I mostly taught primary grades.  As a kindergarten teacher, students might arrive with no pencil grip and by October they were printing their name!

Interestingly enough, only a few minutes after this conversation we received an email from a teacher thanking us for inviting her to attend a two day session facilitated by the Learning for a Sustainable Future organization that was held at one of our schools.  

She wrote:

I just wanted to thank you for putting my name in for the "Making Inquiry Authentic" workshop.  I feel like me again and completely have a rejuvenation for what I can do and what I will do with so many outlets and so MUCH positivity!  YOU are both fabulous and I APPRECIATE YOU!!!!  Thanks again for being apart of my crazy year and supporting me in so many ways!

The fact that a teacher took a few moments out of her day to send a quick email made a big difference to me and to my colleague.  I have resolved to do the same for others.  Today, I wrote two quick thank you notes to leaders in our teachers federation (ETFO) who have supported my work in so many ways over the year.

Years ago someone advised me to keep all the thank you letters and notes that I might get from colleagues, parents and others and to take them out and look at them when I had "one of those days!"  I don't often look in the box of letters, but it makes me feel better just knowing that they are there if I need them.