Being (positively) recognized is important...even when you're 27

As a teacher, I am constantly telling kids how smart, fast, or creative they are. Kids love to feel like they are awesome. If they do something well, they want someone to be there to see it...someone to tell them how proud they are of them.

Adults really aren't much different. We crave praise just as much as those 6-year-olds do. However, with most jobs, you probably don't get recognized unless you've screwed up. How often does someone come up to you and say "You're an amazing (insert job title here)"? It just doesn't happen very often.

For the past 4 weeks I've had a practicum student (we'll call her "D") in my classroom. She's on her way to becoming a teacher and spends everyday during our reading block in my classroom observing and helping out. Yesterday she had to teach a lesson on her own. Her university supervisor came to observe her lesson. This superviser lady ("Dr. M") was totally my number one fan. She came up to me before the lesson and introduced herself and said she thought I would've been older. When I asked her what she meant by that, she said that from reading D's daily journal entries, she was really impressed with the things going on in my classroom and that she just assumed I was a veteran teacher who'd been in the classroom for 20 years. "You're doing all the things we're teaching our incoming teachers to do!" She then asked me if she could add my name to their list of mentor teachers who help other students in the MNU program.

Right before she left my room, Dr. M said "I just wish I could spend all day in here watching you!" And honestly, it made my day. It made it a little easier to stay an hour past my contract time...knowing that someone, even for just a moment, recognized the hard work I put into my teaching.

Thanks, Dr. M!