November 30? December 1?
In no time at all,
November gave way to December,
JUST as I was getting used to writing
11/10 rather than 10/10.
The change also happened without bringing me
my JBS December kit. Waah.
Why hast thou forsaken me, Mr. Postman?
Actually, after seeing the December JBS kit,
I suppose I can understand
how it might have become "lost" in the mail.
Hopefully I'll receive it in time to contribute to the the mid-month gallery,
but in the meantime,
I KNOW, right?
I created this layout to show my love and appreciation
for one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, Laverne.
She and I taught next door to each other for seven years,
and although we were co-workers,
I think of her as my teacher, a mentor
who showed me that teaching really is a calling.
Every day she says "yes" to that call.
In fact, make that an emphatic "YES!"
That's how much she loves teaching.

In case you would rather not go blind
trying to decipher the words on this layout,
this is what she taught me:
that to speak of dreams
is not to succumb to rhetoric
but to embrace an untapped power
that in a teacher’s gentle cursive
both hand and heart send a message
that teachers must keep growing
if we expect our students to do so
that there are other ways to be heard
aside from raising one’s voice
that while we cannot control
what happens outside our classrooms,
we can control what happens inside them
that the details, facts, and figures fade
but the memory of being loved remains
that we are human, imperfect,
and if we are honest about this,
then we are ready to teach others
Yep, I got schooled,
in the best possible way.