Inspirational Finale

Maintaining the attention and the enthusiasm of middle school students, at any time, under any circumstances, for longer than a minute or two, is a daunting task. Particularly on the very last week of school when they, and their peers, and their teachers are all ready to shut down and call it a year. But this week, I have not only garnered their attention and their enthusiasm for the duration, but their unsolicited applause. Across multiple groups and multiple class periods.

My kids know how passionately I fight for them. How much I believe in them. They know how much I care about their lives, their potential, and their futures. But this week, as I have been up against a wall of unbelievably severe challenges, professionally, I chose to focus their attention on how we, as a school, overcome obstacles. How we, as individuals, come back from trials and tragedies. How we, as a community, combat misinformation on the web and restore the potential of people to be better than they are.

Every student, to a fault, stayed with me on this discussion. Every student, to the last, participating in the conversation, regardless of the quality or the length of their contribution. No one complaining that, ugh, we have to do something or talk about something or think about something on the last week. The kinds of inspirational moments that I, as a teacher, live to experience.