Pupil Free Day

PFD: Pupil Free Day (A Day without Pupils)

Today is our first PFD of the 2020-2021 school year. It's the first official day teachers report to work after the summer break. Only this year, it really hasn't been a break for many of us. 

We have been working countless hours training, zooming, researching, learning, sharing, and practicing each and every online tool we could find to make learning more engaging and accessible for our students. 
Not a normal summer to refresh and reflect, but that's just what we do. We are teachers.

Pupil Free Day makes me think of my pupils.

My first class of students 34 years ago.

Every time I see or hear from one of my pupils, 

I can't help but beam with joy and an enormous sense of pride.

That first year of teaching was intense, emotional, and challenging.

I was ready to quit after the first week,

But didn't.

These faces made me glad I stayed the course...

Maybe my next bucket list item should be to get my doctorate and graduate with Humberto? He can't seem to stop going to school and adding to his diploma case. He also likes to surprise his 3rd-grade teacher by crashing pancake breakfasts and makes beautiful sunflower bouquets. 

Every time I see Nancy in her scrubs it makes me cry (but in a good way). She has come such a long way from being a role model in my very first reading group to playing on her high school boys football team to becoming a frontline health care provider. I am so proud of the amazing woman she has become and is always inspired by her spirit and resilience. 

Seven years ago Sandra found me on Facebook. Kids can change a lot after 27 years, but her smile and warmth did not. I still smile thinking about my 3rd-grade darlings that year. I would hang out with my girls at recess and they provided my 23-year-old self with a nice balance to the challenging 10-year-old boys in Room 19. She also confirmed to me that the postcards I sent to students during vacations meant something to the children that received them. I cried when I saw that she kept the one I sent her.

The day before the first day of my 34th year, I received a donation to my Donorschoose Project from an unlikely source. I had been wondering what happened to my sweet Edwin and just like that, there he was. He's going to be a doctor someday... and a writer. I told him doctors can write too. 

When you get random texts during the summer from a recent college graduate on his way to graduate school and he makes you cry with his kind and thoughtful words... you know you are just where you need to be. 

So on this Pupil Free Day, I celebrate all my pupils. From the ones in that class 34 years ago to the ones I am going to meet Wednesday and teach online. You fill my heart with joy. Keep shining and know that someone here believes in you.

*Just for fun, match the pupil from 1986 to present?