Way back in the stone ages when I began teaching, I had the most amazing mentor teacher. I taught second grade and Mrs. Phyllis LoPiccolo was my next door neighbor teacher for third grade. Like all new teachers I struggled with management, and grading, and planning, and well, everything-that first year is a hard one. Mrs. LoPiccolo helped me in all my brand new baby teacher struggles and she also inspired me to try to be amazing every single day. Mrs. LoPiccolo still is one of the world's greatest teachers in my book and she was also a Golden Apple Fellow. From that first year, I wanted to be just like her and this Golden Apple is one small indicator that I am following in her absolutely amazing footsteps.
Fast forward to today and I have learned a few things about running a classroom and creating some educational magic after 15 years in the hot seat. I live with two teenagers who are not easily impressed or interested in my professional goals or accomplishments. So when I came home and told my family about this Golden Apple opportunity, it was met with mild interest to say the least. As I advanced to the finals, the teen interest grew mildly, but not substantially. The morning of the celebration, they were excited for a fancy breakfast. As they listened to the speakers (who were so inspirational) and they heard about the other nominees' accomplishments, and they enjoyed a very delightful breakfast; my children started to see that this wasn't just a typical school event. I heard a small whispered comment,
Mom, you are really awesome. Really.
Fellow moms, you know how rare it is to hear any positive feedback from your teens. For those three seconds, my heart grew a little bit bigger. It's nice to be appreciated folks. Tell your parents the nice parts too, not just the complaints about how hard it is to be a teen.
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