Tuesday slice: Surrounded by greatness

One of my campus TAG teachers was chosen as the Elementary Teacher of the Year for our district last night.  I am so excited and proud of her; she is truly deserving, as her efforts for her students and for education in general ripple through the district level and beyond.  

The announcement last night got me thinking about how I'm surrounded by great people.  I could write about them in detail, but this blogpost would be neverending if I did.  Even if I tried, I'm sure to leave out dozens of those in my personal circles who have inspired me over the years.  So I'm just going to list a few of the folks that immediately come to mind:

• My library assistant, Melinda.  She never stops moving, pays attention to every detail, and always seems to know just what to say to connect with people in our learning community. And she can organize chaos in a minute flat, which is a handy skill to have in a library full of educational materials. 
• My instructional tech support, Danielle.  It's her first year on the job, but you wouldn't necessarily know it by her enthusiasm, especially with our broadcast program.  How she maintains our school website, finds cool doodads to use with broadcast, designs new logos and slides and forms, fights tech "fires" on campus, and juggles a very active personal life makes me wonder if the woman sleeps!
• The other librarians in my district--two were named teachers of the year on their campuses.  Two more just got Google certified, many participate in district- and state-level committees.  And thank goodness we have a pro-library superintendent who assures we can keep our programs staffed by certified librarians!
• My friend Jo, who also made teacher of the year for the disciplinary center where I used to work.  She is a great example of the caring, compassionate staff members there who work to see the potential those students have, despite their circumstances.
• The teachers on my campus, too many to list, who I get to see with their classes every week.  You can tell what great relationships they have with their students by how quickly they can get them quiet, and the looks the kids have when they do--their faces reflect happy, trusting anticipation of what will happen next.
• The members of my family--my husband who goes to work everyday, then comes home to do more work in the yard.  My son who gets compliments from parents of his classmates.  My daughter who calls to say how good she felt giving a pack of soda she got for free to the guy behind her in the grocery store, who didn't buy enough to get his own free pack.  My father who volunteers at a hospital, my brother earning his second master's degree and raising a strong daughter, my uncle who took care of my grandfather until his passing.

I could go on, and on, and on.  Inspiration is everywhere.  And I'm grateful that I don't have to look hard to see it.