I don’t know how you do your job, but you absolutely love it. You come back year after year - and this year you gave it all you had. I just wanted to tell you I saw it and I appreciated it. How so very lucky we were to have you.

Your job is a thankless one and we all know you aren’t in it for the money, you’re in it because you love it. I’m grateful you do what you do, but this year you amazed me.

We were lucky (so lucky) because we were able to go back to in-person learning. The district said our plan was “fluid” – and they weren’t kidding. The plan kept changing throughout the year and you kept rolling with it, never complaining. The decisions weren’t yours, but you had to face the pushback and you had to face upset parents. You kept going and you kept teaching and they kept learning.

You somehow managed to focus on social distancing and a new level of hand washing while reviewing spelling words. You found a way to teach multiplication in the midst of new seating charts that involved who sat by who at what time, in case you had to help the school nurse figure out contact tracing. You made sure everyone had an individually packed snack, every snack time, and a water bottle to drink from because they couldn’t use the fountains. You made sure they wore their masks and helped them find one when they left it at home. I just don’t know how you did it- but you did it.

I’ll forever be grateful for what you did for my family this year. We were ecstatic when we found out school would resume to in-person learning. Our trip to the store for supplies was the first time I let them go back into a store for months. We were all on cloud nine – we felt one step closer to ‘normal’, whatever that would be. They were beaming on the way home from their first day. I didn’t hear about the new rules or how hard change is, I just heard about how much they loved their teachers and how good it felt to see their friends

I can’t imagine how exhausting it all must’ve been. The rules and the guidelines and the changes and the unsolicited feedback. The decisions were never decided by you, yet you had to carry them out. You had to be ready for distance-learning on a moment’s notice and have lesson plans ready in case our level changed overnight. You had to deal with distance learning days combined with in-person days and the planning that required. You had to always be ready for the unknown. You took it all in stride and you just kept going because your students needed you, my kids needed you. They needed the ‘normal’ and you gave it to them.

You made this year what it was. You helped us get through it. Thank you for choosing this profession. You made sure they kept working and kept dreaming – and by doing so, you made sure we all did.