I am so Proud!

I was not at school today. I was at a workshop at XU with a team from our school -- we are learning about Professional Learning Communities, and we hope that what we learn over the next year can be instrumental in moving us all forward toward becoming even better in the future.

Students were left in the hands of one of our most reliable and dependable substitute teachers. They had all been told about my absence in advance, and we had talked about what they could do to help make the substitute welcome in our classroom.

I was able to return to school just before dismissal this afternoon, and I found (much to my delight) a whole bunch of smiling, happy young people ready to head home for the weekend. When I talked with my substitute, he told me that they had had a good day, and that he was able to work easily with the students to help them understand and work through the challenges that they encountered with the work I'd left. He seemed calm, relaxed and happy with the way the day had gone.

I am so very proud of this group of students. They were polite, respectful, diligent, and helpful. My classroom looked just great. Clearly they did exactly what we would all expect of them today, and did it with grace and kindness. What a terrific bunch!