By Jake McDuffee, Language Arts Teacher, Winchester Village Elementary
When I first signed up for Adopt-A-Classroom, I was excited about the opportunity to get supplies for my classroom. I was fortunate enough to be adopted by a donor almost immediately. I told a colleague about the program and the following year, we both were adopted by the same donor. Both of us have been adopted for five straight years now. The feeling I get every year is one of validation.
In a time when education is a political position, a tax-raising proposition to vote down, or just one number to be wrung out of an entire year of effort, it is so relieving to be appreciated through the Adopt-A-Classroom process. Each year, the donation I receive says to me, “I trust in your judgment. I believe you know what your students need to know, how they can be led to what they need to know, and what tools are needed along the way.”
Teaching is sometimes referred to as the noble profession. In the Merriam-Webster thesaurus, noble can be replaced with words like exalted, glorified, or venerable. These are not words I would use to describe my feelings at the end of the day. However, the affirmation I feel every year when I receive an email from Adopt-A-Classroom lifts me up for a while. This program and my donor remind me of the importance of the choice I made when I decided to become a teacher.
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