22 postage stamps:
$8.58
Christmas cards with iridescent polar bears on the cover, rather than the ones one sale adorned with cheesy snowmen wearing sweaters:
$11.98
Spending 4 hours on a Tuesday night writing Christmas cards to each one of my students instead of designing curriculums, differentiating lessons or writing an insightful, heart-wrenching blog entry:
Priceless.
This has nothing to do with AYP. I’m certain this will not close the achievement gap. And help reach significant gains? Not likely. Tonight, I’m just writing holiday cards to my students. Because even though they’re 14, swaggering with attitude and telling me that Christmas is stupid, everyone loves getting cards in the mail.
Everyone loves being remembered and knowing that someone out there spent 3 minutes picking out a card, writing a couple sentences, sealing the envelope and paying 39-cents for postage-- just for them. I know, because I still love it when my former 14-year-old, attitude-ridden, Goth-wannabe students from last year still write me cards.
Tonight, we’re just working on making students feel special. And feeling special is just one of those things that we keep forgetting to add to our state standards.