With the end of the traditional school year fast approaching, it can be a crazy-busy time for teachers and students alike, with a million things to wrap up before summer break. We’re all feeling the pressure and counting down the days.
One thing that can be easy to miss in the midst of all this is the gratitude and love that our students may express as we part ways for the summer. In fact, we can sometimes feel unsure about how to receive such a gift. As educators, we typically see ourselves so much as givers that we don’t always recognize – at least at first – how much our students give back to us.
This is the stuff of a blog post we originally put online, in slightly different form, back in 2015…
Receiving Your Students’ Gratitude – and Recognizing All the Good Work You Do
There’s nothing sweeter than a heartfelt thank you note written by a child.
As teachers and counselors, we’re often so caught up in the day-to-day rush to educate and help our students, we don’t have time to recognize the impact of the good work we’re doing. While we teach children the importance of showing gratitude, we often don’t take enough time to receive all the love they bestow on us.
Some years ago, Lynea mentioned that one of the hardest parts about being a school counselor was receiving all the love that children so openly give. We see it in our courses, too, when teachers initially resist going into the Compliment Circle – and then in the tears that often come when they open up to hearing what a difference they make in our lives.
This receiving soothes our souls and fills our hearts. It reminds us of all the beauty in this world and of our boundless capacity to love and nurture others. It completes the circle.
Before you turn your full attention from your school year towards summer, we thought a few of the endearing notes Lynea received from students after a year of staff training and a two week residency at Portland’s Bridger School would help remind you of just how much the work each of us are doing with Yoga Calm matters, how much the work YOU do matters.
Activity: Write “Rainy Day Note” to Your Classmates
Summer and holiday breaks can be stressful for some students, so one way we help them is to finish the year by writing “rainy day” notes to each other – notes for a proverbial rainy day to remind them of all the wonderful gifts they possess and their friends who care about them. You can even write them to yourself as a reminder of all the good work that you do.
Here’s a sample note written by a student at the end of our recent Yoga Calm RYT-200 Adult Yoga Teacher training:
Thank you so much for what you do in the world! We wish you a restful and rejuvenating summer.
